NBA roundup: Parker says hamstring can tear at any time
San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker told reporters after Saturday's shootaround his injured hamstring is at risk of getting much worse but he will try to play through it.
The Spurs take on the visiting Miami Heat in Game 5 of the NBA Finals on Sunday.
"My hamstring can tear at any time now, so if it was the regular season I would be resting," Parker said. "But now it's the NBA Finals. If it gets a tear, it's life."
However, Parker did say the injury has improved because of rest the past couple of days.
"It feels good," he said. "I feel like I'm getting stronger with it. My goal is to be close to 100 percent by tomorrow. I felt confident, being disciplined with all the treatments, with the ice. Hopefully I'll be good by (Sunday)."
Parker was injured during the second half of Game 3 on Tuesday. He managed to score 15 points in Thursday's Game 4, but none in the second half of the 16-point loss.
Parker is averaging 13.8 points and 7.0 assists and shooting 43.4 percent in the series.
---San Antonio Spurs veteran guard Manu Ginobili told reporters Saturday he is contemplating retiring at the end of the season.
Ginobili is in the final year of his contract and will be 36 in July. He has dealt with a variety of injuries in recent years.
"All season long I kind of knew that I was going to play one or two more years," he said. "But when you are 36 -- I'm going to be 36 pretty soon -- everything is a day-by-day basis. Once the season finishes and I see how I feel, I can't imagine me not playing at least one more year here, but time will tell. We'll see."
---The Sacramento Kings hired Pete D'Alessandro to be their general manager, according to multiple reports on Saturday.
D'Alessandro replaces Geoff Petrie, who was recently let go by the team under new owner Vivek Ranadive.
D'Alessandro was the Denver Nuggets vice president of basketball operations. Previously, he was the Golden State Warriors director of basketball operations and assistant general manager from 2004-08. He joined the Nuggets in 2010. He has also worked in politics and as a sports agent.
---Dallas Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki told the Dallas Morning News that flopping has a place in the NBA -- to a degree.
"We're never going to get rid of it," Nowitzki said. "But you got to limit it. It's part of sports. It's part of winning. Some people are smart and do a little extra thing to kind of sell the call. To me, that's part of sports."
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban is financing a Southern Methodist University study to investigate whether or not video or other motion capture techniques can differentiate flops from genuine player collisions.
