January 2, 2012 – NBA Development League (D-League)
NEW YORK, Jan. 2, 2012 – The San Antonio Spurs assigned guard Gary Neal to the Austin Toros, the Spurs’ NBA D-League affiliate, it was announced today. The assignments mark the tenth time in the 2011-12 season an NBA player has been assigned to an NBA D-League affiliate. It marks the first assignment for Neal.

Neal (6-4, 210) is in his second season with the Spurs and was named to the 2010-11 NBA All-Rookie First Team. Undrafted out of Towson, Neal appeared in 80 games last season averaging 9.8 points while shooting .451 from the field, .419 from three-point range, and .808 from the free throw line. He has not played this season for the Spurs after undergoing a successful appendectomy last month.

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• San Antonio Spurs Assign Gary Neal to NBA D-League Affiliate Austin Toros – D-League

• Washington Wizards Assign Hamady N’Diaye to Iowa Energy – Iowa Energy

• Sacramento Kings Assign Honeycutt and Whiteside to Reno – D-League

• Sacramento Kings Assign Honeycutt, Whiteside to Bighorns – Reno Bighorns

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The 2012 San Antonio Spurs schedule continues into January when the team plays 18 games in a 29-day span. The Spurs open the month on Monday, Jan. 2, against the Minnesota Timberwolves before coming home for a nice three-game stand. Some of the more notable games include a Jan. 8 match-up against the Oklahoma City Thunder and then a game against the Miami heat on Jan. 17. The team went 3-1 in December games and looks to continue doing well in the Southwest division standings as the only team above .500 so far.

January 2012 San Antonio Spurs Schedule

Monday, Jan. 2

San Antonio Spurs at Minnesota Timberwolves, 7 p.m. CT

Wednesday, Jan. 4

Golden State Warriors at San Antonio, 7:30 p.m. CT

Thursday, Jan. 5

Dallas Mavericks at San Antonio, 7:30 p.m. CT

Saturday, Jan. 7

Denver Nuggets at San Antonio, 7:30 p.m. CT

Sunday, Jan. 8

San Antonio at Oklahoma City Thunder, 6 p.m. CT

Tuesday, Jan. 10

San Antonio at Milwaukee Bucks, 7 p.m. CT

Wednesday, Jan. 11

Houston Rockets at San Antonio, 7:30 p.m. CT

Friday, Jan. 13

Portland Trail Blazers at San Antonio, 7:30 p.m. CT

Sunday, Jan. 15

Phoenix Suns at San Antonio, 8 p.m. CT

Tuesday, Jan. 17

San Antonio at Miami Heat, 6:30 p.m. CT

Wednesday, Jan. 18

San Antonio at Orlando Magic, 6 p.m. CT

Friday, Jan. 20

Sacramento Kings at San Antonio, 7:30 p.m. CT

Saturday, Jan. 21

San Antonio at Houston, 7 p.m. CT

Monday, Jan. 23

San Antonio at New Orleans Hornets, 7 p.m. CT

Wednesday, Jan. 25

Atlanta Hawks at San Antonio, 7:30 p.m. CT

Friday, Jan. 27

San Antonio at Minnesota, 7 p.m. CT

Sunday, Jan. 29

San Antonio at Dallas, 5:30 p.m. CT

Monday, Jan. 30

San Antonio at Memphis Grizzlies, 7 p.m. CT

Source:

Spurs Main Site

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Tim Duncan said he isn’t going to stop shooting despite his struggles from
the floor. A busy week will provide him with a lot of opportunities to get
things going.

Duncan and the San Antonio Spurs look to win their 17th straight over the
Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night.

While San Antonio will play two sets of back-to-back games later this week,
the Spurs (3-1) have a chance to begin the stretch on a favorable note against
Minnesota. They have won 16 in a row over the Timberwolves since a 103-101
overtime loss Jan. 3, 2007, on the road.

San Antonio is coming off a 104-89 victory over Utah on Saturday, going 10
of 16 from 3-point range while holding the Jazz to 37.1 percent shooting.

Manu Ginobili scored 23 points, DeJuan Blair had 17 and 10 rebounds and Tony
Parker added 14 points and eight assists.

The performance seemed to lend credence to coach Gregg Popovich’s approach
in a 105-85 loss to Houston on Thursday. Popovich, who recorded his 800th career
victory against the Jazz, pulled his veterans early and said he’s willing to do
that again in order to keep his veterans fresh during the compact schedule.

Though the Spurs starters looked rested against Utah, Duncan’s shooting
struggles continued.

After playing less than 16 minutes against the Rockets, Duncan finished with
12 points on 4-of-13 shooting Saturday, although he seemed to get things going
late. He was 1 of 7 from the field in the first half.

“Getting just about every shot I want, just can’t put them in the hole,” he
said. “But I’m going to stick with it and hopefully down the stretch or the next
couple of games I can get it going.”

While San Antonio swept the four-game series against Minnesota last season,
one went into overtime and two others were decided by a combined nine points.
The Spurs could be in for another tough one against the Timberwolves (1-3) on
Monday.

Kevin Love finished with 25 points and 17 boards in a 99-82 win over Dallas
on Sunday for Minnesota’s first win.

Although the Timberwolves had lost 18 straight dating back to last season,
their first three losses in 2011-12 were by a combined nine points.

“It’s a new year,” said Love, who hit 5 of 6 from 3-point range. “We’re the
best team in 2012 right now. We feel good. We’ve got the monkey off our back.”

Love was a big factor in keeping Minnesota’s games against San Antonio close
last season, averaging 23.8 points and 19.3 rebounds.

Besides defending Love, San Antonio will have to keep its eye on rookie
Ricky Rubio, particularly late in games.

Rubio, the fifth overall pick in the 2009 draft, scored a season-high 14
points and had seven assists against Dallas on Sunday. He scored seven points in
the fourth quarter, playing all 12 minutes.

Twenty-one of his 38 points have come in the final quarter, when Rubio has
gone 7 for 10 with 14 assists.

“I worked a lot this summer on shooting jump shots and all the stuff. When
you work hard, things (are) coming,” he said.

The Timberwolves could be without Michael Beasley after he injured his index
finger.

San Antonio • The Jazz’s locker-room door opened Saturday night and C.J. Miles sat hunched down in a chair, studying a box score, while Paul Millsap eyed rows of statistics over his teammates’ shoulder.

Utah had fallen 104-89 to the San Antonio Spurs. The Jazz shot just 37.1 percent from the floor, 12.5 percent behind the 3-point line, distributed only 11 assists and scored 21 points or less in the first three quarters.

With 9 minutes, 52 seconds left in the fourth, Utah (1-3) was down by 27 points and the team’s third blowout in four games to start the 2011-12 campaign was already in the books.

But what wasn’t in the box score were words such as effort, energy and communication. They were the same problems that plagued the Jazz during back-to-back road embarrassments to open the season. And they were the exact issues Utah coach Tyrone Corbin hammered home after watching San Antonio (3-1) run the Jazz out of the AT&T Center via a 20-8 second-quarter run that featured 11 consecutive points from Manu Ginobili, who scored a game-high 23 and drilled 5 of 6 3s.

Al Jefferson led Utah with a team-high 21 points and 11 rebounds, while reserve Josh Howard added 18 points and seven boards.

Corbin knows this will be an at times rough, at times joyous season for the Jazz. Utah’s young and rebuilding, but still trying to win games with veterans such as Devin Harris, Millsap and Jefferson. As a result, unpredictability will rein.

But the one thing Corbin’s squad can control is its nightly effort. And after seeing the Jazz lose three games by an average of 19 points – all featuring big-time, game-changing runs by the victors – consistent effort could be the one trait that keeps Utah moving forward even if defeats pile up.

“We need to keep searching for who we are. We just need to make sure we understand that we need to keep working to get better,” said Corbin, who kept the locker room closed longer than normal for the second game in the three contests.

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He added: “We just need to make sure the guys understand that it’s a long season. We need to stay together and work.”

Sticking together was again a familiar postgame refrain. Reserve forward Derrick Favors said it’s the Jazz’s primary problem when on-the-court play falls apart, while veteran backup point guard Earl Watson said Utah’s shown a tendency to cave when it falls behind on the road.

The Jazz have trailed by double-digits in all four games this season, and Utah had to come back from 13 points down Friday to knock off Philadelphia at home.

“We’re a different team on the road. It’s obvious, for whatever reason,” Watson said. “But you can’t sit there and look for the reason why. You have to look for the reason how to win on the road. First, we’ve got to start getting close.”

The Spurs made that goal almost impossible. San Antonio ran a shooting clinic during the first half, burning Utah on rotations that left the Jazz’s perimeter naked and allowed the Spurs to drain 80 percent (8 of 10) of their 3s.

After Utah was lifted by its youth movement Friday, Saturday was a replay of blowouts to the: poor defense, a methodical and lethargic offense, and energy that occasionally spurted but never became in vogue.

Now, the Jazz return to Salt Lake City staring at a cushion of 12 of 15 January games at EnergySolutions Arena. But two months of brutal road travel follows, and Corbin’s more concerned with his team’s progress and evolution than random home wins.

“It’s going to be up and down for a while until we get [settled],” he said. “It’s just not the way that you lose games – it means something the way we play in a losing ballgame. For the most part, the 48-minute effort that we’re looking for, we haven’t gotten in the losses.”

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