quot;Playoffs is a time for people who feel very confident about what they're doing, and George isn't in that category yet,quot; Popovich said. quot;He needs more time. This playoff probably isn't for him.quot;

After Hill's performance in his first taste of real playoff pressure, the Spurs coach may be ready to call on him more often.

The 6-foot-2 combo guard, who also played some small forward during the regular season, was the only Spurs bench player to make a shot in Saturday's 99-90 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. Both of his makes were from 3-point range in the fourth quarter, when the Spurs were trying to slice into a Mavericks lead that reached 12 points with 10:06 left in the game.

Except for the final two seconds of the first half, Hill didn't enter the game until Popovich called on him to sub for Tony Parker with 2:27 remaining in the third quarter.

Popovich didn't pull him from the game thereafter, mainly because Hill primarily was responsible for putting the defensive clamps on Mavericks guard Jason Terry. Terry got off only three shots in the fourth, and missed all three.

Hill believes Popovich hasn't lost confidence in his ability to play solid, man-to-man defense on players like Terry, the Mavericks' No. 2 scorer this season at 19.6 points per game.

Hill hopes his 3-point makes will have answered some of the questions Popovich may have had about his ability to contribute at the offensive end.

quot;The threes were very big for me,quot; he said. quot;It gives me confidence, and it gives the coaches confidence in you for the future and the rest of the games this year.

quot;Now, I have to make the best of my situation. My getting open shots and doing what I'm supposed to do at all times is going to open doors for me next time.quot;

Aware he would not be in Popovich's regular rotation for the playoffs, Hill had promised he would be ready any time Popovich called.

Getting 24 minutes in Thursday's Game 3 loss, a blowout so thorough that Popovich rested his regulars most of the second half, helped prepare him for Saturday's call.

quot;I wasn't surprised,quot; he said of entering a critical game that had not been ceded. quot;The one thing they always tell me is to keep myself ready, because you never know when your time is going to come.

quot;When I do get time, I just try to make the best of it.quot;

Hill knew staying on the court would be a function of his ability to check Terry.

quot;I went into the game just wanting to make it tough for Jason Terry,quot; Hill said. quot;That was my main focus. I wanted to start everything on the defensive end, and build something on the offensive end. Today, my goal was just to disrupt Terry and try to give him as few touches as possible and make every shot he took difficult.

quot;It played into our strength, but we couldn't hold them off at the end.quot;

Hill's teammates were happy to see his contribution, especially overworked point guard Tony Parker.

quot;George did a good job,quot; Parker said. quot;He gave us some good minutes, played some good defense on Jason Terry, and hit some big threes for us.

quot;I think he may be an option we can use in Game 5.quot;