by Sports Xchange

Entering Monday's game, the Spurs were the only team in the league in which no player was averaging 30 minutes. Duncan was averaging 29 minutes, Parker 26.

--Spurs coach Gregg Popovich continues to implement afternoon practices, a major shift from this season. The team typically practiced in the morning.

Popovich has always been a liberal thinker when it comes to practices, in terms of how often the team would practice and how hard, because he wants to preserve the energy of his veteran players for the long haul of the season.

The change from practicing in the afternoon as opposed to the morning has taken some adjusting by players.

"It was odd the first day. Now I think we're all starting to get adjusted to it a little bit," guard Roger Mason Jr., said. "You're definitely a little bit more live, body-wise, and we play closer to 7 so it kind of makes sense there, too. We're all used to morning practices, but we're getting accustomed to this."

QUOTE TO NOTE: "I don't know where the minutes are going to go. Who's going to be in the top eight or nine? Who will those guys be? Who will we come to depend on more than other people at the end of games? None of that is determined at this point." -- Coach Gregg Popovich on working in seven new players.