Ah yes, the second night of a back-to-back. In previous years, tonight would treat us to a game where the Spurs would show their age and wear down late in the contest. Sloppy plays would occur and fans would thank their lucky stars that there are no back-to-backs in the playoffs. But since infusing some [...]

DeJuan Blair started for the Spurs last night against the Los Angeles Lakers. He finished it too. In between? Nada. Blair played the first five minutes of the game before being substituted for Antonio McDyess. He didn’t step on the floor again until there were just a couple of minutes remaining in the fourth quarter [...]

Rob Mahoney of Two Man Game has written a piece for Hardwood Paroxysm about the difficultly of assigning positions to some players. Tim Duncan and DeJuan Blair play prominently in the discussion. I’m not saying that Duncan is a power forward, and I’m sure as hell not saying he’s a center. What I am saying [...]

Yesterday I ran a piece that attempted to point out an obvious development that some have missed: Tim Duncan is playing very well this season. Some want to qualify this by saying Duncan is receiving less double-teams, to which my response is “so what?” and “is he really?” Honestly, I’m not sure that assertion is [...]

Thanks to the magic of Twitter, we needn’t worry about the condition of DeJuan Blair, who took a nasty fall in last night’s game. He tweets he’s fine.

The Spurs beat the Celtics on the boards 55-32. A plus 23 rebounding edge is usually enough to secure a victory, but not last night, and not against the Celtics. The Spurs may have won the rebounding battle, but they lost in every other phase of play. The Celtics controlled the game from the outset. [...]

The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Philadelphia 76es 97-89 last night, extending their winning streak to 5. The Spurs are now 9-6. So far as winning streaks go, the current run is nothing to brag about. The Spurs have played 4 of 5 at home, beating Washington, Milwaukee, Golden State, Houston and Philadelphia. Prior to [...]

Even though San Antonio and Dallas played one another just last week, that game is already ancient history. The Spurs were without Tim Duncan and Tony Parker in their first go-round with the Mavs, and Richard Jefferson led the team with 29 points, 7 rebounds and 4 assists. With Parker and Duncan back in the [...]

During the offseason, I suggested that the Lakers had begun a movement of super-contenders by changing the model for winning an NBA championship from 3 stars and a bunch of role players to a 5 star, get-out-our-way template. To make this thesis work, I considered Andrew Bynum a star player. Many readers took exception. “Andrew [...]

NBA Stats As the “L” emerged from underground somewhere between North/Clybourn and Fullerton, I hurriedly checked my phone to learn the score of the game. Typically I am not that anxious when I miss the first half of a game; I’ve missed plenty before. But when I checked the score before I left the newsroom, [...]

Through five games, the San Antonio Spurs are consistently getting beat on the boards. They currently rank 25th out of 30 teams in rebound rate. The Spurs are the 18th worst offensive rebounding team in the league; they’re ranked 27th in defensive rebounding rate. In terms of raw numbers, San Antonio is losing on the [...]

Ed. Note: I apologize there was no early edition. I had a quiz on futures markets in 17th century Osaka (Oh, how I wish I was kidding). Tim has children. NBA Stats There are known knowns. These are things we know that we know. There are known unknowns. That is to say, there are things [...]

Although a disappointment, I’m hesitant to read too much into the Spurs Thursday night loss to the Bulls. The Spurs may have gotten younger this offseason but, as I said during the “early edition” of my recap, the Spurs are going to struggle on the second night of back-to-backs when on the road against high [...]

The Spurs tipped off their 2009-10 campaign in impressive fashion, defeating the New Orleans Hornets 113-96 in the season opener at home this evening. It’s hard to imagine an opening game that inspires more confidence moving forward. I think the overwhelming truth that must be taken from tonight’s game is how deep this squad is. [...]

Last week ESPN.com asked their national writers to predict the 2009-10 player award winners. Manu Ginobili and Gregg Popovich’s names were suggested in the 6th Man and Coach of the Year categories, but the list caused me to think about the entire Spurs roster. The ESPN writers did a good job of identifying the major [...]