What Tony Parker's Injury Means For The San Antonio Spurs vs. Houston Rockets

UPDATE: 12:38 p.m. EDT - The San Antonio Spurs have announced that Tony Parker will miss the rest of the postseason with a ruptured left quadriceps tendon.

Original Story:

The San Antonio Spurs tied up their second-round playoff series with the Houston Rockets at 1-1 Wednesday night, but the victory came at a price. Tony Parker had to be helped off the court in Game 2 with a left leg injury, and the team might have to get used to life without their starting point guard.

The extent of Parker’s injury wasn’t known after the game, and he’s scheduled to undergo an MRI Thursday. Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said “it’s not good” when asked about the injury after the game, and a new report indicates that Parker could be done for the 2017 NBA playoffs.

“It's hard to see him limping and hurting now and you kind of know we're not going to see him anytime soon," veteran Manu Ginobili told reporters after Wednesday’s 121-96 win over Houston. "So, that's a tough blow.”

Parker was one of the main reasons why the Spurs were able to bounce back from their embarrassing Game 1 loss, scoring 18 points in just 26 minutes Wednesday night. He left the game with the Spurs up by 14 points with less than nine minutes remaining.

“I thought it was just like a Charley horse because he got hit in the quad,” Ginobili said. “He was grabbing his quad in the beginning. But, then when he wasn't moving and he couldn't put weight on it to come back to the locker room, that's when we all got worried. So, yeah, we've got to be patient and see tomorrow what happens, but it didn't look good.”

If Parker is going to miss an extended period of time, what does that mean for the Spurs' chances of beating the Rockets?

The good news for San Antonio is that they have one of the NBA’s best backup point guards. Patty Mills doesn’t have nearly the same resume has Parker, but the Spurs haven’t had much trouble this season with Parker on the bench.

In fact, San Antonio has somehow played even better with Mills on the court. The Spurs are 6.7 points better per 100 possessions with Mills on the court compared to when he’s on the bench. While San Antonio outscores their opponents by 5.9 points per 100 possessions when Parker is playing, that difference goes up to 9.3 points once Parker takes a seat.

During the regular season, Parker and Mills put up very similar numbers. Averaging just 3.3 more minutes per game, Parker had the slight edge in scoring (10.1 to 9.5 ppg) and assists (4.5 to 3.5 apg). Parker shot better from the field overall (46.6 to 44 percent), but the starter made just 23 shots from behind the arc. Mills is a valuable three-point shooter, making 1.8 threes per game at a 41.4 percent clip.

That’s not to say Mills is the better player. The experience that comes from playing in five NBA Finals compared to two for Mills can’t be quantified in statistics. Parker is the team’s second-leading scorer with 15.9 points per game this postseason, and his presence will certainly be missed when it’s time for Mills to take a breather.

Dejounte Murray is the Spurs’ only other point guard that’s suited up this series. The rookie has logged just 23 total minutes in the 2017 playoffs, and he averaged 3.4 points in 38 regular-season games.

In San Antonio’s three playoff losses, Parker is averaging 11 points on 37.5 percent shooting. He’s scoring 18.8 points on 60 percent shooting in the team's five wins.

Kawhi Leonard has been incredible this postseason, and he could carry the Spurs to the Western Conference Finals. But things just got a lot tougher for San Antonio, and any chance they had to upset the Golden State Warriors in the next round has gotten even slimmer.