Gregg Popovich ‘Very Concerned’ About Tony Parker’s Health


Tony Parker had himself a terrible game against the OKC Thunder last night — 2 points on 1/6 shooting, 4 assists and 1 rebound — and it was largely due to a shin injury. Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich admitted that his point guard’s injuries are weighing heavily on his mind. Per the Express-News: “It wasn’t exactly the All-Star point guard’s 1-of-6, two-point scoring night that was concerning the Spurs coach. It was the way Parker was hobbling up and down the court at Chesapeake Energy Arena, looking more like 38-year-old Thunder guard Derek Fisher than Fisher himself. ‘I saw him come across half court actually limping at one time, so that’s when we pulled him,’ Popovich said. ‘I said ‘Tony, you’ve got to stop, so we can figure out what it is.’ He just couldn’t go.’ Heading into the game, Parker was dealing with a laundry list of bumps, including a bone bruise in his left ankle leftover from a sprain suffered March 1. Popovich doesn’t believe what plagued Parker in OKC was necessarily that, but a previously unreported injury to his shin. ‘My feeling is tendonitis, something in his shins or whatever, from the way it looked on the court, but I don’t know,’ said Popovich, who described himself ‘very concerned’ about his star guard’s health. ‘We thought he had just kind of recovered from his ankle, so this was something new tonight with his leg,’ Popovich said. ‘I just don’t know what it is right now.’ […] ‘I just have to get healthy,’ Parker said. ‘I’m not going to give you any other answers than that.’ Asked if he had a feeling whether he would be able to play Saturday at home against Atlanta, Parker said: ‘We’ll see.'”