A Few Cents More

The Spurs split their last two games against their division rivals, Dallas and Houston. Certainly with an 8 – 2 start there is no real cause for alarm, however there might be one area requiring more than the usual attention. Even though the Spurs managed to hold on for the win against the Rockets, they did not make much improvement in the opponent’s field goal percentage. Both the Mavericks and the Rockets managed to shoot over 50% against the Spurs defense. Contrast this number to their two games against the Buck and Lakers of which they won handily and we can readily identify the one area requiring a little more attention, the one area where a ‘few cents’ more makes all the difference between a win and a loss.

In Championship Form

The Spurs execution both defensively and offensively was flawless last night. Tony is establishing himself as the premiere point guard in the league and Manu is unstoppable in the early part of the season. The two played so well that Kobe took it upon himself to guard each on several occasions. In one sequence he got burned by manu's drive to the basket; with incredible english on the ball, Manu managed to roll it between Bynum's outstretched hands while Kobe trying to recover on defense clobbered Manu from behind sending him into the camera man thus resulting in a 3 point play. The Spurs spacing and outside shooting was at playoff level. This game was over midway through the 3rd and they did it without Duncan. They appear to be already in championship form.

Best in the West?

Based on the offseason improvements made by the New Orleans Hornets and Memphis Grizzles, I feel compelled to rephrase the title of this post to 'Best in the (south) West. Clearly, based on their individual performances, 4 out of 5 southwest teams are arguably the best 4 teams in the Western Conference AT THE MOMENT. Order is certainly to be restored this week as Dallas, Houston, New Orleans and San Antonio will go head to head for the ultimate bragging rights as the king of the southwest and the Best in the West.

Boringly Good

The San Antonio Spurs began this season in the same fashion that they ended it, winning. The Spurs are known for generally having a slow start but finishing strong. They have also been labeled 'boring' by many who follow the NBA. Well, let the first two games serve notice that the 2007 Spurs are not starting slow neither are they boring. The Spurs are currently riding a two game win streak and are averaging over a 100 points per game! If a fan of the NBA find the Spurs brand of basketball boring and unwatchable, then you are truly missing out on a boringly GOOD thing.