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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

For all the anticipation surrounding Manu Ginobili’s return, it was the San Antonio Spurs focus and attention to details that were most sorely missed in the Game 1 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. For much of the past decade the trinity of Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker carried the headlines, but it was [...]

THE PRESENT — It’s strange to think about the emotional arc of the last twelve months: The soaring heights, the seemingly bottomless depths. This team tossed me around like a rag doll, while all along, without us knowing it, history was set on loop. The San Antonio Spurs will face the Dallas Mavericks in the [...]

Manu Ginobili’s instincts are true. The San Antonio Spurs begin their 7-game series against the Dallas Mavericks tonight, and the NBA playoffs couldn’t have a better pairing for its opening round.

Whenever teams in the Texas Triangle tussle (alliteration is fun), it’s not hard to get excited. There’s no motivation needed as most fans of the Spurs, Mavericks and Rockets intermingle. Fans of the Texas teams work with, are friends with and, hell, even date fans of their enemy teams. Everyone wants that one win 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 [...]