"It appears Gregg Popovich has done it again.

With the road miles piling up on his veteran team, the Spurs coach has dispatched four of his top five leading scorers home to San Antonio in advance of tonight's nationally televised game against the Miami Heat.

Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green did not travel with the team after Wednesday night's win in Orlando, instead heading back to South Texas this morning for an extra day of rest leading up to Saturday's sure-to-be-rugged home game against Memphis.

The four were spotted on a Southwest flight making a pre-lunch escape from central Florida.

As a result, the Spurs – who were already without injured small forward Kawhi Leonard and Stephen Jackson – get set to take on the defending NBA champions using a roster of nine players.

In retrospect, Popovich was probably hinting at the decision to come before Wednesday's game in Orlando, when he admitted the most road-heavy November in team history was taking its toll on his players.