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Better late than never.

Last night the Spurs defeated the Bobcats in San Antonio to sweep the season series 2-0. For 3 1/2 quarters Charlotte put up a good fight but a lockdown defensive stand by the Spurs to close the game brought us the win.

For the second game in a row Ime Udoka saw a lot of court time (25 minutes) and for the second game in a row he played decently. He didn’t shoot as well as he did against the Suns but none of his shots were ill-advised and his defense and rebounding were reliable. I don’t know what has inspired Pop to suddenly give Ime a second chance; after a poor start to the season he seemed permanently relegated to the end of the bench. All I know is that, if Ime can show some consistency on the court, he would be a valuable asset come the playoffs. Mostly I see him as a defensive tool because he has the size and the aggressiveness to handle oversized wings (like Lamar Odom). I guess it’s worth noting that Udoka didn’t really find his way into the rotation until about this time last season and was a worthwhile contributor in the playoffs.

When not pondering the mystery of Udoka’s minutes, I spent much of last night’s game frustrated. It’s clear that the Bobcats have improved greatly since they acquired Diaw and Bell for Richardson but we still shouldn’t have allowed this team to play us so close. Our defensive intensity in the closing minutes made that all the more clear. Yes, it’s nice to know that when the game is on the line we can break a team down at will but I would have like to have seen us play with a tad more aggression from start to finish.

The game’s notable performances came from Kurt Thomas and George Hill. (Mason shot well and Duncan and Parker both had double-doubles but at this point, are any of those really that notable?) A commenter recently noted that Thomas’ play has really improved as the season has progressed. I couldn’t agree more. At this point he has turned into a reliable anchor for the defense when Duncan is on the bench. At the beginning of the season he was rather ineffectual but I think I underestimated the effect his pre-season injury had on the sharpness of his play. For all the huffing and puffing I did about our frontcourt for the majority of the season, I feel surprisingly content with the play of our big men.

George Hill had a strong game as well. His defensive abilities are often talked about in terms of his length and his athleticism: He has the natural gifts to be a talented defender. But as the season has gone on he has turned into a more tenacious defender is well. He is developing into an incessant annoyance for opposing guards. He has always had the quickness (and focus) to close out on shooters and make penetration difficult but in recent weeks he has been more aggressive in man-to-man situations. When covering the ball handler, he plays his man tighter and is more active with his hands. He also had a nice, efficient offensive output yesterday evening, going 3-3 from the field and 2-2 from the line.

Brief side note: Were the referee’s driving anyone else insane last night or was it just me? I didn’t feel they were calling an uneven game (the Bobcats committed 17 personal fouls, the Spurs 18) but I felt, for much of the first half, they were calling it absurdly tight. At this point it doesn’t matter but at the time it was genuinely disrupting my enjoyment of the game. Definitely one of those “let ‘em play, ref” moments. I just wanted to see if anyone else felt similarly.

Our next game is against the Lakers, who are coming off of an embarrassing loss to Portland. It will be the second game of a back-to-back for LA, the first of which is tonight in Houston. After all the buzz about that Michael Lewis’ article, all eyes are going to be focused on Battier’s defense of Kobe. We’ll see if Shane is as clever as Lewis thinks he is.

Ed. Note: As commenter “John” correctly noted, Odom will miss tonight’s game against the Rockets, not tomorrow’s game against the Spurs. I edited the final paragraph to reflect that.