San Antonio Spurs fans held their collective breath at the sight of Tim Duncan clutching his ankle in the opening moments of the game against the Golden State Warriors this past week.
Fortunately for the Spurs, Duncan’s sprain wasn’t as bad as it looked and he will be out of action for possibly up to four or five games. Not to mention Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich plans on having Duncan back at the start of playoffs.
Enter Dallas Mavericks’ Tyson Chandler.
Currently, the Mavericks are in the third spot in the Western Conference playoff race and should these two teams meet, it will likely be in the Western Conference Finals.
However, with Duncan recovering, Chandler said if Dallas does meet San Antonio in the playoffs, he wants to beat a fully healthy Spurs squad:
“I want to beat the Spurs and I want to beat the Spurs healthy. I don’t want any crutch.”
In the Western Conference standings, the Spurs hold a 7.5 game lead over the Mavericks and barring any major meltdown by San Antonio, Dallas will not catch San Antonio.
Chandler knows this but does say the injury to Duncan possibly changes things up in the West playoff race:
“It definitely has the possibility of changing things,” Chandler admitted. “But I think, at this point of the year, we have to really concentrate on us. A lot of times you can get caught up in, ‘Oh, San Antonio is going to fall’ but, regardless of what happens, you have to be playing your best.”
I can appreciate Chandler’s point. Spurs fans would want the same from whichever team San Antonio faces in the first round. Not to mention erasing any doubt on which is the better team in the end.
But if Chandler wants to face the Spurs, and beat them, so be it. However, here are a few words of advice for Chandler — be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.
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