NBA: Parker not your typical Frenchman

San Antonio Spurs TV announcer Sean Elliott says Tony Parker’s gritty performance in game five of the NBA finals shows he’s not your typical French citizen.

“Everything that they’ve said about French people doesn’t apply to him. It just doesn’t apply. He’s as tough as they come,” Elliott told the San Antonio Express-News.

Parker had a game-high 26 points on 10-of-14 shooting from the field despite playing with a mild hamstring strain in the Spurs 114-104 win over the Miami Heat on Sunday.

Former Spurs star Elliott won an NBA title with San Antonio in 1999. In 2000, Elliott became the first American athlete to return to pro sports after undergoing a kidney transplant.

Parker suffered a strained right hamstring in game three of the series on Tuesday and has been receiving extensive medical treatment ever since to allow him to play. He said if this was the regular season he would have taken 10 days off to rest and recover.

“If he was in a bigger market they would be comparing him to a guy like AI (Allen Iverson),” Elliott told the newspaper.

Parker scored 15 points, but none in the second half, in a game four loss to Miami. The Spurs lead the series three games to two.

Game six is Tuesday in Miami.