Basketball: Ankle lands Spurs' Tim Duncan on injured list

Tim Duncan will be sidelined at least two weeks because of a sprained right ankle and could miss the rest of the regular season.

The San Antonio Spurs placed the two-time MVP on the injured list Monday following an MRI exam. He flew home to San Antonio on Sunday to begin treatment while the rest of the team went to New York for Monday night's game against the Knicks.

The Spurs activated forward-center Sean Marks from the injured list to take Duncan's roster slot. Robert Horry started in Duncan's place against the Knicks.

Duncan -- the Spurs' leading scorer, rebounder and shot blocker -- crumpled to the floor in the opening minutes of a 110-101 loss to Detroit on Sunday after scoring inside and coming down on Rasheed Wallace's foot. After the landing, Duncan's ankle turned in a gruesome fashion.

The 7-footer missed two games earlier this month with a sprained right ankle.

www.sportsline.com...


We'll see if the Spurs can hang on to one of the top 2 spots in the Western conference playoffs. Obviously, Timmy is the heart and soul of that Spurs team and they're a totally different team without him.

Hope he's back before the end of the regular season, he's been helping out my fantasy team in the "other" league...

The Spurs are being killed by teams now that Duncan is out. I hope now people are re-deciding on their MVP vote. Duncan means more to the Spurs than other player means for their team except maybe Iverson for the Sixers. With Duncan out I think the Suns will claim the best record in the NBA and the Spurs are in danger of falling all the way to fourth (although I doubt they will fall that far).

I'm with you 100% as far as how the voting for MVP should go, but they never seem to go that way, it's always goign to the big name player on the team with the best record. It's a shame, but that is the way it happens. There is no way anyone else is the most valuable player for thier team than Duncan.

Tim Duncan is by far the best player that the Spurs have. However, there are others whose talent and ability should not go overlooked....namely Manu Ginobili. Duncan's injury is definitely a liability to the team but I've seen them bounce back from worse before. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that the team keeps morale up enough to realize that they don't need Duncan to win.

Rumors are that Duncan may not be back till the second round of the playoffs or even until next season. If that is the case, then I think the Spurs championship hopes for this year are gone. You can only do so much without the cornerstone of your franchise.

ESPN are saying he could miss the rest of the regular season.. Most are still saying 2 weeks and yeah they do need him back, but you never know with these injuries. I think they went 1-3 without him earlier in the season.

How many have they played now without him? And whats their record?

Amazingly (to me at least), including tonight's win, they are 3-2 wihtout him.