The San Antonio Spurs Haven’t Practiced in Over a Month

Head coach Gregg Popovich can’t recall the last time his team held a full practice — the schedule has been so brutal in November and December, that the Spurs have chosen to maximize their rest. Per the Express-News:

Eight days remain in the cruelest two months of the season for the Spurs, a stretch coach Gregg Popovich has called horrible. Even the Christmas Day game is the front half of a set of back-to-back games. The team is scheduled to depart for Dallas after playing the Rockets at the AT&T Center.

The November and December schedules have been so full of games and travel days that Popovich has chosen to use off days as rest days, including Sunday. Asked to recall the last practice, Popovich furrowed his brow, scratched his head and gave up. “I can’t remember,” he said.

In fact, the last real practice was Nov. 19, during a stretch of four days without a game after returning from a victory in Utah and preceding a home win over Boston. Popovich calls maintaining consistency the biggest challenge of long stretches without practice. “There’s always some slippage as far as execution is concerned,” he said. “You just play games. You don’t get a chance to review or do any muscle memory things or get to the practice court.”