A day after general manager Mike Gillis expressed doubt over his own future and that of his bench boss, Vancouver Canucks coach John Tortorella wouldnt let himself be drawn into the speculation over his job status after the season. Custom Columbus Blue Jackets Jerseys . "Mike Gillis is my boss and I cant speak for Mike," said Tortorella of his bosss comments on Friday afternoon. "I dont know how to answer to him because I cant speak for him. I dont want to do that. Mike and I are always talking, but to answer that, I just cant. Its not fair to him or me." Sitting six points out of the final wild card in the Western Conference with only five games to play, the Canucks are set to miss the playoffs for just the third time in 13 seasons and the first time since 2008. Still, Tortorella expressed no interest in publicly discussing his teams and, by extension, his own future. "Youre digging at a spot Id rather talk internally about," he said. "Thats probably something we can talk about after the season is over. I have to worry about coaching a hockey team. We have five more games, a team that needs to better and thats my focus." Gillis spoke on Thursday of his teams inability to play up to the style and level of play that theyre accustomed to for much of the season and Tortorella acknowledged his concerns, but maintained that he and Gillis shared a similar vision. "The style of play that were teaching, were on the same page, yes," he explained. "And it was a style of play that we played at the beginning of the year and no one else is responsible for the falter of the team and not staying up with the style of play that needs to be played here than me. I let it go just through our whole situation with the injuries and didnt grab a hold of it quick enough. No one else is responsible." While placing the onus on himself for his teams decline in play, Tortorella shot down the suggestion that he was overworking his star players to the point of injury. The Canucks have lost 282 man games to injury with key contributors including Daniel Sedin, Henrik Sedin, Ryan Kesler and Kevin Bieksa missing significant time. "Its easy to look at numbers and say you played them too much and that is not why theres been a struggle there," said Tortorella. "Youre not going to talk me into that. It just isnt, but I certainly have tried in the second part, as weve tried to get healthy in the second part of the year, tried to stretch it, but a lot of it is determined on depth within your line-up. I dont want to go much further than that because I think Ill be a little bit too critical and I dont want to do that here. Thats an organizational-type situation and an organizational conversation." The Canucks are next in action on Saturday night when they host the Los Angeles Kings. Custom Arizona Coyotes Jerseys .com) - Graeme McDowell opened up with a first- round, 5-under 67 on Thursday and he holds a 2-shot lead at the WGC - HSBC Champions. Custom Houston Texans Jerseys . Granato was an assistant for the Pittsburgh Penguins for the last five seasons, and he was also part of Team USAs staff at the 2014 Olympics. https://www.cheapcustomjerseysonline.com/custom-new-york-giants-jerseys/ .com) - Guess whos back, back again? Josh Gordons back, tell a friend. PORTLAND, Ore. -- San Antonio stars Tim Duncan and Tony Parker took the night off Wednesday. No matter. As is usual when the Spurs are without their stars, the rest of the team got the job done. Patty Mills came off the bench to score 29 points, Marco Belinelli hit a go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:34 remaining and San Antonio rallied in the second half to pull out a 111-109 victory over the Trail Blazers. San Antonio has won two of three games this season when Duncan and Parker were both absent from the lineup. Mills helped fill the void with a 24-point second half. The fourth-year guard from Australia came off the bench to hit 13 of 26 shots against the Blazers. Belinelli had 20 points and Manu Ginobili 16 for San Antonio. Mills has been on a hot streak since the All-Star break concluded, scoring 25 and 29 points in the Spurs first two games back. "If it wasnt for him the last couple nights, we would have really struggled," San Antonio forward Danny Green said. "Hes doing what Tony usually does, in taking over in that fourth quarter." Mills explained his recent stretch in humble tones, saying "for me, its just been learning from great guys. Weve got three future Hall of Famers and a great coach, so Ive just sat back and learned." It wasnt just Mills, though. Belinelli hit four 3-pointers, and Tiago Splitter had 15 points and six rebounds in returning to the lineup for the first time since Feb. 6. "I thought the effort was fantastic," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. Portland was without leading scorer and rebounder LaMarcus Aldridge, who missed the game with a groin injury and is expected to be out at least a week. Also sidelined were forward Joel Freeland (knee) and centre Meyers Leonard (ankle). Aside from Duncan and Parker, the Spurs also were without guard Kawhi Leonard (right hand). Damian Lillard scored 31 points, including 15 during the fourth quarter, for Portland. Coming off his first All-Star game appearance, Lillard hit 13 of 21 shots and handed out six assists. Custom San Diego Padres Jerseys. Mo Williams had 19 points and Wesley Matthews 18 for the Blazers. Without Aldridge, Freeland and Leonard, the Blazers had to resort to playing a small lineup. It resulted in erratic play, with stretches when the Blazers offence went missing. "We tried to beat San Antonio at their game and they did it better than us," Portland coach Terry Stotts said. "San Antonio is used to playing these games without their guys and they plug guys in and they play well." Trailing 81-79 after three quarters, San Antonio took command when Green hit back-to-back 3-pointers to fuel a 10-0 run at the fourth quarters outset. The Spurs led by as many as 10 points, but the Blazers eventually pulled even at 101-101 on Matthews steal and dunk with 1:52 remaining. On San Antonios next possession, Belinelli hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key with 1:34 left to put the Spurs back on top. Portland led by as many as eight points during the first half, and settled for a 52-51 halftime lead. Both teams had big runs during a free-flowing third quarter. Mills finished an 8-2 run with a layup to give San Antonio a 69-61 lead. Portland responded with seven consecutive points, then took a 79-75 lead when Williams scored six consecutive points late in the quarter. NOTES: Portland was the last NBA team to use the same starting lineup this season until Wednesday, when Dorell Wright replaced Aldridge against San Antonio. The Blazers are the first team since the 2010-11 Spurs to start the same lineup during its first 53 games. . Splitter returned to the lineup after missing the past four games with a calf injury. . Blazers forward Victor Claver, who hasnt played since Nov. 15 and has logged just three minutes of playing time this season, made a first-quarter appearance and played seven minutes . San Antonio concludes a nine-game road trip that began Feb. 3 on Friday at Phoenix. . Before Wednesday, San Antonio was 1-9 in its past 10 games at Portland. ' ' '