NBA News Wire
Report: Spurs PG Parker expected to play
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
The San Antonio Spurs expect injured point guard Tony Parker to play Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Thursday against the Miami Heat, according to the San Antonio Express-News.
Parker sprained an ankle during Game 4 of the Western Conference finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder and sat out the second half of the series-clinching Game 6.
“He came to me with about eight minutes on the clock (before the second half) and said he couldn’t go,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said after the game. “He couldn’t cut. He was limping on it. He couldn’t cut sideways or forward really.”
The Spurs were able to prevail without Parker, but he is averaging 17.2 points and 4.9 assists in the playoffs.
Yahoo Sports earlier reported that the Spurs were hopeful Parker would be ready for the NBA Finals.
An official update may not come until Tuesday when Popovich meets with the media for the first time since Saturday when San Antonio eliminated Oklahoma City from the playoffs.
During the regular season, Parker averaged 16.7 points and 5.7 assists while shooting 50 percent from the field in 60 games. Before the ankle injury, Parker strained his left hamstring during the series-clinching Game 5 of the second round against the Portland Trail Blazers.
