Being deep is always a good thing, but how much depth do you really have if an entire skill set (creating shots) is provided by only one player?

With Dirk Nowitzki unlikely to play tonight, what changes about the way the Mavericks operate offensively? Who should the Spurs use to defend the Mavs guards?

In losing to the Dallas Mavericks, Tim Duncan lost more than his team’s 12-game winning streak. He also lost a bet. Last season, after a huge performance from Nowitzki, Duncan bet the Mavericks forward would not be able to replicate his 12-14 performance. Duncan was wrong.

Can the Spurs make it 13 in a row? In this Texas showdown, the Spurs must find a way to contain Dirk Nowitzki. What strategy should they employ?

In the past decade the NBA has dramatically tilted its rules in favor of quicker, more diminutive floor leaders. But while the NBA became a “quarterbacks” league, its greatest point guards have had surprisingly little say in the ultimate prize. In discussing the positional revolution, I stated under the current NBA rules defending quality point [...]

Preseason is in full gear and by now every major team publication or basketball website has had their season previews out for some time. Without much to add to the offseason (ESPN’s John Hollinger beat me to noting Matt Bonner’s new teardrop, which will only add to his +/- greatness), I thought I’d change things [...]

It would appear that the biggest source of San Antonio Spurs fans “backup quarterback syndrome” is ready to sign with the place that seemingly invented it-Dallas. Ed Sefko of the Dallas Morning News reports that the Dallas Mavericks are close to signing Spurs free agent center Ian Mahinmi: Mahinmi (6-11) played 26 games for the [...]

The greatest seventh seed in NBA history? Not exactly a compliment in the eyes of Tim Duncan. Certainly the San Antonio Spurs are the first seventh seed to eliminate a second seed since the NBA Playoffs switched formats to a first round best-of-seven series. But Duncan and the rest of the world will have to [...]

AT&T CENTER-Given a second shot at a closeout game after their disappointing Game 5 loss to the Dallas Mavericks, the only adjustment needed by the San Antonio Spurs between games was to find the energy and focus they lacked on the road. “Minds are kind of hard to understand sometimes,” Manu Ginobili said. “We went [...]

The score says the Mavericks beat the Spurs by 22 points, but it was worse than that. And Gregg Popovich knew it. The Spurs’ starters didn’t see action in the 4th quarter. Pop put out the white flag towards the end of the third, and now it’s San Antonio’s turn to regroup. The Mavericks jumped [...]

AT&T Center-A game after Dallas Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle benched each of his team’s new acquisitions in the second half, the San Antonio Spurs turned to theirs with the trio of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker struggling. Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich’s faith was aptly rewarded. Antonio McDyess hit open jumpers, scoring [...]

Bruised and bloodied, but far from broken-well, except for his nose which is, in fact, broken-San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili returned from the locker room part Rocky Balboa, part Michael Jordan. The combination of both was all “El Contusion”. Late in the third quarter of the San Antonio Spurs 94-90 win over the Dallas [...]

For much of the series the Dallas Mavericks have been able to do very little defensively to stop Manu Ginobili. Hedging screens. Trapping. Denying passes. Changing matchups. Scratch broken noses off the list of things that could possibly deter Manu Ginobili, who will start in Game 4 for the San Antonio Spurs despite suffering the [...]

AT&T CENTER-For all the weapons the Dallas Mavericks acquired over this year, through the majority of the second half it was the same lineup that ousted the San Antonio Spurs in last season’s playoffs unexpectedly staring down the same point guard they still have no answer for. The difference? This season Tony Parker brought some [...]

Perception and reality are two vastly different and constantly changing things, especially in an NBA playoff series where momentum shifts freely from one game to the next. A superficial glance at the box scores will tell you that the San Antonio Spurs did a much better job guarding Dirk Nowitzki than in his blitzkrieg Game [...]