San Antonio – San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said after Saturday’s practice that forward Francisco Oberto will be available for Game 1 tonight after overcoming a heart arrhythmia.
Oberto felt abnormal sensations in his chest prior to the season finale against the visiting Nuggets on Wednesday and was diagnosed with heart arrhythmia. The 6-foot-10, 245-pound reserve averaged 4.4 points and 4.7 rebounds in the regular season. Oberto, who declined comment, didn’t participate in Friday’s practice but did practice Saturday.
“Any time it’s the heart you get worried,” said Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, who like Oberto is from Argentina. “The doctors were very clear there was nothing to worry about. He was a little scared at the beginning, but now he’s good.”
Well rested
Spurs all-star forward Tim Duncan, all-star guard Tony Parker and key reserve guard Ginobili last played a week ago at Dallas. The Spurs, however, are not worried about their three stars being rusty for Game 1 of their playoff series against Denver tonight.
“It’s OK. We still do a lot of practice, hard game situations. We’ll be fine,” Parker said.
Quotable
“Denver, it’s so funny, they remind me of the team I was on when I was in Houston and we made a midseason trade and got Clyde. We wound up winning the (title).” – San Antonio’s Robert Horry, who played on the 1995 Rockets team that acquired Clyde Drexler in a trade at midseason.
Footnotes
Parker was at the AT&T Center on Friday night, but it wasn’t to work on his basketball skills. Rather, the Frenchman went to enjoy the Cirque du Soleil show called “Delirium.” “That’s great motivation to the playoffs, yeah?” Parker said. … While Ginobili “sometimes” remembers being courted by the Nuggets during free agency in 2004, he has no regrets about re-signing with San Antonio instead of coming to Denver. “That year where I was close to going there, I thought about it a little bit. But I can never regret staying here. Great decision,” he said.
