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To hear Spurs forward Danny Green tell it, All-Star point guard Tony Parker is just around the corner from an early return from his Grade 2 sprain of the left ankle. Over the past week, Green has kept an eye on Parker’s post-practice workouts, which now include plenty of shooting drills, and thinks the Spurs’ scoring and assists leader will beat the medical staff’s projected return of after April 1. “I’ve always said I didn’t think he’d be out the full four weeks,” Green said before Saturday’s game. “Every time he’s hurt, I never see it as a serious injury because he always plays through it. He always comes back a lot sooner than people expect. Not saying it will be (Saturday or Sunday), but I expect he’ll be back sooner than the four weeks. “I think he looks pretty healthy. I think he looks pretty good. You’d have to ask him, but he looks like he’s moving pretty well. Every day, I feel like he’s shooting a little bit here and there, and his speed on his movement is coming a little bit better.” San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker, Injuries, Danny Green 

Ethan J. Skolnick: Appears that Tony Parker will be back well in advance of Heat showdown on March 31. Twitter @EthanJSkolnick

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker, Injuries 

Tony Parker’s projected return from a left-ankle sprain continues to improve. Popovich believes his All-Star point guard will be able to beat the original four-week prognosis that followed an MRI exam March 2. Parker has been running on a treadmill all week, and recently began taking some shots at the team’s practice facility. “He’s doing fine,” Popovich said. “I guess he’s on schedule. Two weeks is (Friday). Initially they told us four weeks probably. “I don’t think it will be quite that long. I don’t know if I’m being too hopeful, but I think it will be shorter than four weeks.” San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker, Injuries 

Jeff McDonald: Duncan on life sans TP: "We're missing him, not just his scoring and his play but his play-calling and his understanding of what Pop wants." Twitter @JMcDonald_SAEN

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker, Injuries 

Count Ginoibli among those hoping Parker can beat the four weeks the medical staff originally predicted he’d be out. “The team knew that even though we won the first two without him, it didn’t mean anything,” Ginobili said. “That’s usually what happens when you have a player down: Other players step up and there’s the emotion. But in the long term it is going to hurt you.” San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Injuries 

Mike Monroe: Good news for Spurs on night they got beat by 30: @tonyparker ran for 15 min. on treadmill today; even Pop thinks he'll be before 4 wks. Twitter @Monroe_SA

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker, Injuries 

Royce Young: Tony Parker tells @Bill Simmons he was happy when OKC traded James Harden: youtube.com/watch?v=wlrGFj… Twitter @dailythunder

Houston Rockets, Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Trade, Tony Parker, James Harden 

San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker is expected to miss approximately four weeks with a Grade 2 left ankle sprain, the team announced Saturday. ESPN.com

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker 

Mike Monroe: Pop on parker ankle sprain: 'it's a good one, he'll be out a while' Twitter @Monroe_SA

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker, Injuries 

But USA Basketball spokesman Craig Miller told Fox 29;s Maximum Sports on Tuesday that Popovich’s resume and past experience with the team made him an “obvious” candidate. Miller also addressed an alleged disagreement/misunderstanding between Popovich and Colangelo during the last round of hiring. “Jerry’s not going to put himself in a position where he’s not picking the best candidates,” he said. Tony Parker joked after practice on Tuesday that the French Federation would be thrilled to have his long-time Spurs coach. Popovich, a wine and food connoisseur, said he’d consider it on one condition. “Only if training camp is in Leon,” he said. “Paris is OK, but Leon is where all the food started.” San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker, Coaching, Gregg Popovich, USA Basketball 

Parker is aware of the lack of attention, but he is more concerned about wins. "It's better late than never," Parker said. "That's not what drives me. What drives me is winning championships. I always knew my time would come because Pop always challenged me." Yahoo! Sports

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker 

"LeBron is the best player in the NBA, by far. But if you want to give it to someone to change it, why not [me]?" Parker said with a laugh. "Charles Barkley had it one year [1992-93] even though M.J. [Michael Jordan] was the best player. Steve Nash got it [twice from 2004-06] even though Kobe [Bryant] was the best player in the NBA. But for me the most important thing is we win. "If it [the MVP] happens, it happens. If not, LeBron is unbelievable. But for me, I don't think about it. It's not in my hands." Yahoo! Sports

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker 

Nearly 50 European players were on NBA opening-day rosters and several will play in the September event. Tony Parker recently told USA TODAY Sports that he wants to win an NBA title in June then follow that up with a Eurobasket title for France, which finished second to Spain in 2011. USA Today Sports

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker, FIBA, Eurobasket 

An inadvertent elbow from guard Chris Paul hit the Spurs point guard just above the right elbow in Thursday’s game against the Clippers, but Parker stayed mum about how sore he was even after warming up and discovering his perimeter shot was affected by the pain. “He was a little too much in hero mode,” Popovich said. “He really wasn’t forthcoming. We didn’t realize it until about halfway through the game when he didn’t shoot any (perimeter) shots. I would have sat him in that game, and that’s definitely why we’re sitting him tonight.” Parker admitted withholding information about the extent of his injury. “I told Pop, ‘You know me. I’ve been here 10 years, and I don’t complain about injuries. There’s a lot of stuff I don’t tell you.’ He said, ‘With something like this, you’ve got to tell ?me.’?” San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker, Injuries 

Parker said he expects to be back in the lineup for Wednesday’s home game against the Suns. “That will be five days for it to heal,” he said. “I should be fine.” San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker, Injuries 

So Tony, what's it like when Popovich stops by armed with a challenge? Parker chuckled. Fortunately, Popovich didn't want a report on the selected works for Russian poet Sergei Yesenin, or whatever book he was reading at the time. "He just told me 'Timmy (Duncan) and Manu (Ginobili) are getting older, and it's your turn now. You have to carry the team night in, night out. You have to play good every night. You have to be consistent,' " Parker told USA TODAY Sports. "He said 'Good players have a great season one year. But great players have great seasons more than once.' "The belief that he has in me shows a lot of respect and makes me want to go out there and play hard every night." USA Today Sports

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker, Tim Duncan 

"I'm playing my best basketball," Parker said. "I'm playing very confident. … They always say between the ages of 28 and 32, you play your best basketball because physically you're still good and still going fast and you have the knowledge and experience. USA Today Sports

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker 

On the rare occasions when an NBA All-Star Game is tight late, the exhibition always turns into an ultra competitive game of pride, with typically only the elite left playing. The West's Kobe Bryant reflected that intensity when he made a request to coach Gregg Popovich in how to handle LeBron James with 5:59 left and the West clinging to a 123-120 lead. "He was talking during the timeout saying he wanted to take [James] one-on-one, and he did a pretty good job," West All-Star Tony Parker said. Yahoo! Sports

Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Tony Parker, All-Star 

You had qiote the competition to face, as Gasol brothers, Vasilis Spanoulis, Tony Parker, Goran Dragic, Danilo Gallinari, Marcin Gortat, Omer Asik and your teammate Nikola Pekovic were all in the race for the award. Do you think the decision was fair? Andrei Kirilenko: I have said it many times: determining the best invidividual in a team sport, where thousands of players compete on the highest level, is not easy. How can one compare me to Pau Gasol? Or to Parker, Nowitzki and Spanoulis? All this is very subjective. However I won't hide the fact that I'm flattered. Moreso by the fact that I was elected by both fans and experts. TalkBasket

Los Angeles Lakers, Minnesota Timberwolves, San Antonio Spurs, Pau Gasol, Tony Parker, Andrei Kirilenko 

Tony Parker has been so outstanding lately that Spurs coach Gregg Popovich called it "beyond an All-Star level." Does that mean All-NBA? Maybe even MVP? "I think he should be in every conversation for any award that's going to be given," Popovich said. "I don't think that is really tough to see. I mean, there's a group of guys, but he should be in that group as one of the guys that's playing the best in the league." Parker had 29 points and 11 assists in another brilliant performance without his two sidekicks, and San Antonio dominated the second half to beat the Brooklyn Nets 111-86 on Sunday night. USA Today Sports

San Antonio Spurs, Tony Parker, Gregg Popovich