Former San Antonio Spurs defensive stalwart Bruce Bowen is about to join elite company in the AT&T Center's rafters.

Bowen will have his No. 12 jersey retired on March 21 during the Spurs home game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Bowen played for the Spurs from 2001 to 2009 and was a key part of the Spurs' three championships in that time period.

“Bruce Bowen was the premier perimeter defender in the NBA for close to a decade,” said Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich. “His success is proof that hard work and determination do, in fact, pay off. Statistics are meaningless when talking about his importance to this franchise. The simple fact is the Spurs don't win NBA Championships in 2003, 2005 and 2007 without Bruce Bowen.”

The 6-7 guard out of Cal State Fullerton earned a spot on the NBA’s All-Defensive Team in eight of his nine seasons with the Spurs (was a second team selection in 2001, 2002 and 2003 before earning first team honors in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2008). Bowen is one of five swingmen in NBA history to earn All-Defensive Team honors in eight-or-more straight seasons joining Scottie Pippen (10 straight from 1991-00), Bobby Jones (nine straight from 1977-85), John Havlicek (eight straight from 1969-76) and Michael Cooper (eight straight from 1981-88).

Aside from his jersey being retired at the Timberwolves game, Bowen will also be honored at a Silver & Black Give Back Luncheon on March 19, where he will be joined by several former teammates.

Bowen's jersey will join those of former Spurs George Gervin, James Silas, Johnny Moore, David Robinson, Sean Elliott and Avery Johnson. 

Last we heard from former San Antonio Spurs guard George Hill he was settling in to becoming the Indiana Pacers' sixth man. Now, Hill is the center of a controversy that cost the Golden State Warriors a victory.

Rusty Simmons with the San Francisco Chronicle writes that the NBA says George Hill intentionally kicked a Monta Ellis pass, leading to a steal and a three point play. The refs didn't catch it, they thought it was an unintentional deflection.

"Pacers guard George Hill intentionally kicked the ball away from Warriors guard Monta Ellis during his crossover dribble," the statement read. "According to rule No. 10, Section IV.b, kicking the ball or striking it with any part of the leg is a violation when it is an intentional act. The officials missed the kicked ball violation which should have resulted in a dead-ball situation and Golden State inbounding the ball on the sideline nearest the spot of the violation."

Who doesn't know number 10, section IV.b of the NBA rule book? Get your heads out of your asses, refs! Either way, Hill seems to be settling in to his role with Pacers nicely. His minutes are down from where they were with the Spurs last season, but he's having a career year shooting and rebounding so far. Spurs fans waiting to see Hill back in San Antonio still have a way to go. The Pacers visit San Antonio March 31.

What kind of tire would you be?

It's one of those random, off-the-wall questions that would normally end with a blank stare, but for San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan, he didn't hesitate to answer the question, while also noting that he likes "pretty rims."

Duncan is featured with ESPN SportsNation anchor Michelle Beadle in a pair of Bridgestone Tire commercials that are being released on YouTube leading up to the SuperBowl.

Aside from the type of tire he would be, Duncan also talks about the idea of a performance basketball..

I'm not too crazy about the red Bridgestone "jersey" with the huge logo, but I do like that someone has found a way to tap into Duncan's own style of humor.

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The San Antonio Spurs will face the Atlanta Hawks this Wednesday in San Antonio and the Hawks' Kirk Hinrich hopes to be back in uniform after recovering from left shoulder surgery as Atlanta hits the road.

"I hope I'll be playing sometime on this trip," he said.

Hinrich started in 22 of his 24 games with Atlanta last season after he was traded to the Hawks from Washington. He averaged 10.2 points and 4.0 assists overall.

Last season versus San Antonio, Hinrich averaged 11.3 points, 4.7 assists, was perfect at the free-throw line (3-3), 33% from the three-point line, 52% from the field in 33 minutes in three games against the Spurs.

And should Hinrich play against the Spurs, the Spurs will need to make sure he doesn't get into the paint.

Last season, he averaged 67% shooting (above his average) against the Spurs in the paint and averaged 44% shooting (8-18) mid-range.

Briefing Session

The San Antonio Spurs (10-7) look to stop a two-game losing skid after falling to the Sacramento Kings and Houston Rockets. The team will resume play by facing the New Orleans Hornets (3-13) on the road in Louisiana Monday evening.

Case No. 18: New Orleans Hornets

Record: 3-13  Home: 1-8  Last 10 games: 1-9

Commendable areas for the Hornets

• Defense: As bad as their record looks, the Hornets statistically have a very good defensive team. The team is ranked 8th in the league by holding their opponents to 91.2 points per game. The Hornets limit their opponents to an average of 43% shooting from the field per game. The team is also tied for 10th in the league for blocked shots per game with an average of 5.1 blocks per game.

• Rebounding: The Hornets are ranked 4th in the entire league in rebounding with 44.1 rebounds per game. A big reason for their rebounding numbers can be attributed to their 4th ranked offensive rebounding ability of 12.6 offensive boards per game.

• Competitive: You’d think that for a team currently holding the worst record in the Western Conference and losing 13 games, the Hornets would seem to get blown out in most games. Well, that actually isn’t the case as the Hornets’ defense keeps them competitive in the majority of their matches. The Hornets have only lost four of their 13 losses by more than ten points.

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Box | Gameflow | Advanced Stats

As if playing in their fourth game in five nights wasn't hard enough, the  San Antonio Spurs only had one of their big three entering last night's 102-105 loss on the road to the Houston Rockets.

While Tony Parker and Tiago Splitter did their best to try to get the Spurs their second road win, in the end, it was guard play, specifically by Kyle Lowry and Goran Dragic, that put the Rockets ahead for good as the Spurs continue their road woes.

In Retrospect

Before last night's game, Jeff Garcia noted a few things to watch for in the game.

But as the Spurs head into tonight's matchup, there are a few things to note about the Rockets and when they are most likely to pick up a win.

Here are five things to keep your eye on throughout the game:

• Houston is 5-1 when leading after the first quarter.
• Houston is 7-1 when leading at halftime.
• Should the Spurs shoot .500 or more, the Rockets will most likely lose since Houston is 0-5 when opponents shoot .500 or better.
• The Rockets are 2-1 on games played on a Saturday.
• When Houston is leading after the third quarter, the Rockets are 8-0.

It looks like those streaks continue as the Rockets lead after the first quarter, at halftime, kept the Spurs under .500, lead after the third quarter and are now 3-1 on Saturdays.

On this episode of the WOAI Sports Roundtable powered by Project Spurs, Mike De Leon and Paul Garcia put San Antonio Spurs' Danny Green in the spotlight and discuss his impact on the team this season.

They also take a look ahead at the Spurs schedule and give their predictions.

The San Antonio Spurs are sitting Tim Duncan for tonight's game against the Houston Rockets.

San Antonio Express-News tweeted the announcement Saturday afternoon, which the Spurs then retweeted. In a subsequent tweet, it was announced Matt Bonner would start in Duncan's place.

This is the Spurs' fourth game in five nights, so his sitting out tonight isn't a huge surprise. Starting the struggling Bonner over Tiago Splitter is a bit surprising, but Coach Pop must like where Splitter is in the rotation.

Tonight the San Antonio Spurs (10-6) will face the Houston Rockets (8-7) in Houston in the hopes of picking up their second road win of the season and to erase the ugly taste of losing to the Sacramento Kings last night in San Antonio.

But as the Spurs head into tonight's matchup, there are a few things to note about the Rockets and when they are most likely to pick up a win.

Here are five things to keep your eye on throughout the game:

• Houston is 5-1 when leading after the first quarter.
• Houston is 7-1 when leading at halftime.
• Should the Spurs shoot .500 or more, the Rockets will most likely lose since Houston is 0-5 when opponents shoot .500 or better.
• The Rockets are 2-1 on games played on a Saturday.
• When Houston is leading after the third quarter, the Rockets are 8-0.

While San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili hasn't announced his return date, looks like the other injured Southwest Division heavyweight knows when he'll be returning.  Fox Sports Tennessee is reporting that Zach Randolph has set a March 2nd return date.

"We're pretty sure he's going to come back this season playing with a protective brace," Orthopedic surgeon Fred Azar said of the 30-year-old Randolph, who reported to the team this season in the best shape of his career. "But we won't let him go back until the MCL is completely healed. The key thing for him is staying in shape with his conditioning as he does the rehab simultaneously. We expect him to go back to playing with a protective brace."

Randolph will have missed almost half the season if he comes back on that March 2nd date against the Raptors. The Grizz have been treading water since Randolph went down, but when he gets back they could be in really good shape. Last year, the Grizzlies looked great when their fourth best big was Hamed Haddadi. Now it's Dante Cunningham or Maurice Speights. That's what we call an upgrade.

You may have noticed Dr. Azar saying Z-Bo was going to come back wearing a protective brace. How well he adjusts to that brace just may determine how well the Grizzlies do later this season.