Hill benched, but says sore ankle was fine
After Hill played a scoreless 15 minutes in the first half, Popovich had seen enough barely three minutes into the second half. He sat Hill, a game-time decision with a re-tweak of a sprain, the rest of the way.
"I didn't like what I saw in the first half," Popovich said. "I gave him a shot there to start the third quarter and I just thought he wasn't able to do what we needed to have him do."
The benching left the second-year guard who has been so integral to the Spurs' late-season resurgence perplexed.
"I was fine. I don't know what to say. I was fine, though," Hill said. "I couldn't say I just wasn't aggressive enough. I don't know what it was, to be honest. The foot was fine."
The Spurs need a scoring punch from Hill. They get nothing guaranteed from Richard Jefferson (four points in 32 minutes), Roger Mason (four points in nine minutes) or Matt Bonner (five points in 19 minutes) and need a burst from more than the The Big Three, which scored 71 of the Spurs' 94 points.
Now the question is whether Popovich will return Tony Parker to the starting lineup. Parker has come off the bench in all seven games since his return from a broken right hand. He had his best outing Sunday since coming back with 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting, four assists and two assists in 34 minutes.
Jeff Caplan
ESPNDallas.com
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Jeff Caplan
Jeff Caplan joined ESPNDallas.com in December 2009. Jeff covers the Mavericks, Rangers and colleges. He has a wealth of experience in the area, covering multiple beats in his 11-plus years with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
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Tim MacMahon joined ESPNDallas.com in September 2009. Tim covers the Cowboys and Mavericks. He has covered the local sports scene from high schools to colleges to pros during his six-year tenure at The Dallas Morning News. MacMahon is a graduate of UNT.
Marc Stein
Marc Stein began writing for ESPN.com in 2000 and signed on full-time in 2002 as Senior NBA Writer. He also makes regular appearances on "SportsCenter," "NBA Shootaround," "NBA Fastbreak," "NBA Coast To Coast," ESPNEWS, ESPN "First Take" and ESPN Radio.
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Jeff Wade joined ESPNDallas.com in November 2009. He is one half of "The Ben & Skin Show," heard weekdays from 9a-12p on 103.3 FM ESPN, and also works as sideline analyst for the TV broadcast of all Maverick home games.
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TEAM LEADERS
| POINTS | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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Dirk Nowitzki
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| OTHER LEADERS | ||||||||||||
| Rebounds | S. Marion | 7.4 | ||||||||||
| Assists | J. Kidd | 5.5 | ||||||||||
| Steals | J. Kidd | 1.7 | ||||||||||
| Blocks | B. Wright | 1.3 | ||||||||||
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