The 2011-12 San Antonio Spurs team is stacked and their depth is staggering. From rookie Kawhi Leonard, the "Big 3," to having Stephen Jackson, Manu Ginobili, Boris Diaw, Tiago Splitter, Gary Neal come off the bench, there is no doubt San Antonio's roster can be intimidating for any opposing team. Much of this is due to Spurs GM R.C. Buford.

Buford was able to create a roster which has allowed the Spurs to capture the best record in the Western Conference and own a 15-game winning streak which includes a sweep of the Jazz in the first-round of the playoffs.

However, all this success wasn't good enough as Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird won the 2011-12 NBA Executive of the Year with R.C. coming in second in the voting.

Bird set the tone for the 2011-12 season by naming Frank Vogel, who had served in an interim capacity for 46 games during the 2010-11 season, head coach on July 6, 2011. He added to an already strong nucleus by signing David West in December, and beefed up the Pacers' bench by trading for Lou Amundson and Leandro Barbosa. Indiana's draft picks under Bird's watch have included three key contributors on this year's team: Paul George (2010), Tyler Hansbrough (2009), and Roy Hibbert (2008).

The San Antonio Spurs are marching through the playoffs and making short work of the competition. So of course, Spurs fans are showing their love for the men in black and silver by wearing Spurs jerseys, decorating their cars, or perhaps painting their face with the Spurs' logo.

Then there are the super fans who will do anything and everything to show their Spurs pride.

As we reported, one fan got a pretty cool face of Tony Parker shaved into his hair but this tops even the TP haircut. How about a Spurs fan getting Matt Bonner's image shave into his hair! And the fan is even a red-head like "The Red Rocket."

(photo: KABB Fox 29, San Antonio)

How awesome is that Spurs fans? Seriously, that has to be on the Mount Rushmore of all haircuts ever done to someone's head. Oh and by the way, the kid is in trouble for sporting the "Bonner" look at school as well.

Personally, I would never do this, but what do you have to say Spurs fans? Does this kid deserve a round of applause for showing his Bonner fandom? And I got to ask, would you ever get a Spurs player's face etched on your head?

With a little over one month before the 2012 NBA Draft, there's little guesswork involved in figuring out who the number one pick will be.

That should be of little surprise when Kentucky's Anthony Davis is being compared to San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan.

At worst, he is compared favorably with Marcus Camby and Tyson Chandler. At best, the name Tim Duncan rolls off some scouts' tongues.

The only question NBA scouts have about him is whether he'll run into trouble early in his pro career with the league's bigger, stronger power forwards.

The freshman power forward averaged 14.3 points, 10 rebounds and 4.7 blocks per game on his way to leading the Wildcats to a National Championship.

While Davis has plenty to prove before the comparison to Duncan is truly deserved, he's received other strong comparisons to make him one player to watch next season, especially if Duncan and Davis square off next season.

With the college basketball season and most of the recruiting process over, Duke University Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski is now in full Team USA mode.  The man who has been at the helm of USA Basketball's rebirth feels confident that 2012 will play out much like 2008 in Beijing did, but according to ESPN's Marc Stein, he's even more certain that this is will be his last go around with the world's best athletes.

"I think this is the last time. I hope we can win the gold medal."

Coach K has been spectacular for Team USA.  Having a guy with his coaching skills (not to mention the extra time off to game plan) was exactly what Team USA needed to get back to being the dominant force in international play.  Now that he's stepping away, it's time for another military grad to take the reigns of the team: San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich.  Pop's hold everyone accountable coaching style is similar to Coach K's and seems to be one of the few ways to get stars to work together with a common goal in mind.  He has Team USA experience, though most would like to pretend that 2004 in Athens didn't happen, and he has the name recognition to get his players' attention.

However, there's already a problem according to this tweet by Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Another double-digit win for the San Antonio Spurs and the win streak continues. The Spurs showed that the extra rest was worth it as they piled it on the Los Angeles Clippers late in the game on their way to a 108-92 win to take the first game in the playoff semi finals series.

The Spurs didn’t look rusty to me at all. They scored 29 points in the first quarter and the offense was firing on all cylinders. They lacked a little bit of focus on the defensive end, and maybe that can be attributed to their 8 days off, but all-in-all I’d say the mini vacation was worth it.

What went right for the Spurs?

I said in my series preview that I thought Tim Duncan was going to have a great series, and he proved me right in Game 1. Duncan showed why he’s headed to the hall of fame and Blake Griffin is still just a developing young player. Duncan put in 26 points and added 10 rebounds. He shot 12 of 20 from the floor and seemed to get his way on the offensive end. He also threw in 2 blocks and 2 steals. The Clippers aren’t going to have an answer for Tim Duncan. Griffin, Reggie Evans and DeAndre Jordan all have defensive weaknesses that Duncan will be able to exploit at will.

It also didn’t hurt that it was raining 3’s in San Antonio last night. The Spurs shot 13-25 from behind the arc and it was just a dagger in the side of the Clippers every time they buried one. Normally, you say don’t live by the 3-pointer, but in the Spurs’ case, their shots from long distance came from such excellent ball movement, that they were getting open looks whenever they wanted. The Spurs passed the ball so well last night, it must have been incredibly frustrating for a worn out Clippers squad.

They are the two premier forwards in the NBA of this generation -- San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan and Boston Celtics' Kevin Garnett. Both have won NBA titles, been selected to countless All-Star games, collected many individual awards and had their fair share of battles on the court. Perhaps the biggest on-the-court battle between TD and KG happened when Garnett was playing in Minnesota and decided to whack Duncan's head (while TD wasn't looking) during a fight between the two teams.

However, they also have very different personalities.

TD lets his game do all the talking while KG just talks, a lot. Duncan doesn't let smack-talk get to him, and Garnett has a penchant to spew relentless vulgarities in order to get into the minds of the opposing players.

And like Superman and Batman, or Captain America and Ironman, TD and KG are on complete opposite ends of the spectrum which would lend to a not-so-friendly relationship.

In an interview with Chris Ballard of Sports Illustrated, Duncan was asked about Garnett and it would seem Duncan isn't a huge fan of his peer.

Danny Green has been a nice surprise for the San Antonio Spurs this year. He started the season relatively unknown, but after the injury to Manu Ginobili, Green worked his way into the starting lineup, and has been a valuable part of the team ever since.

This year was Green’s first to long consistent minutes in the NBA. It’s an opportunity that obviously doesn’t come along too often, so he’s thankful he got the chance.

"Growing up, you dream of playing in the NBA," Green says. "You get to the NBA, you realize how hard it is to make a team, to make a rotation. Every day, when I wake up, I don't believe it. When I get up, I'm one of the happiest guys in the world."

Last year, in the Spurs’ series against the Memphis Grizzlies, Green only got to play in garbage time. Even though those minutes didn’t mean much in terms of how the series ended up, it was important for him to get some experience.

"I compare it to driving," Green says. "The more miles you're on the road, the more comfortable you are behind the wheel, and not everybody's a good driver. I got opportunities to get a feel of the road."

It's down to the final eight team in the NBA playoffs and the San Antonio Spurs are one of them.

Currently, the Spurs are facing the Clippers and hold a 1-0 lead in their semi final match and after shaking off some rust, the team looked every bit of the title contender. On the other side of the West playoff bracket, the Thunder also looked like every bit the title contender as well, after demolishing the Lakers in Game 1 of their semi finals matchup.

And it is one of these two teams that Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl feels will win the 2011-12 NBA title.

I think all season long everybody in basketball thought Oklahoma City was the best team in the west, but were they mature enough to show that? I think last night, I think everybody right now, I think it’s going to be a San Antonio-Oklahoma City thing.

San Antonio is playing with so much flow and rhythm and rhythmatic offense and their defense is not great but it is solid. It’s still a pretty good defensive team. Their offense is so in flow right now I love watching San Antonio play. And this is the time of year where there’s a separation and I’m not ready to sign the contract but I’m pretty sure Oklahoma City is a higher degree than everybody else right now, along with, probably, San Antonio.

I’m very prejudiced toward the west. I’ll be honest with you, I think there’s four or five teams in the West that can beat Miami.

Karl says one of these teams will be able to take down the Miami Heat, especially after Miami lost Chris Bosh to an abdominal injury.

Before tonight's game, much was made of the San Antonio Spurs' rest as they waited eight days to see who they'd play in the second round of the playoffs.

The rest vs. rust debate was put to sleep early. If there was any rust, the Spurs shook it off very quickly on their way to a 108-92 Game 1 victory.

“It was hard to start. We were a little sluggish at the beginning, especially at the defensive end," Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said. "Then we picked up and from the second quarter on we improved. You never know if it is rust, a slow start, or bad game."

The Spurs definitely started piking things up. Midway through the first quarter, they went on a quick 12-3 run to take a six-point lead. The Clippers fought back, behind a Nick Young three-pointer and a last second pull-up jumper to tie it up at the end of the first.

After Young, the former Washington Wizard, hit another three with eight minutes left in the half to give the Clippers the lead, the Spurs countered by bringing Tim Duncan back into the game, who lead them on a 9-0 rally and never looked back the rest of the quarter. A Danny Green three-pointer punctuated the Spurs' second quarter.

While Caron Butler did his best to keep the Clippers afloat in the third quarter, scoring 13 points, it was clear he was working alone against a Spurs team that got big third quarter efforts from three of their starters and Manu Ginobili off the bench. Eric Bledsoe scored six quick points at the end of the quarter to cut into a 19-point deficit, but the Clippers had dug themselves into a 15-point hole by the time the horn sounded at the end of the quarter.

They did have one more run in them though. After Stephen Jackson opened up the fourth with a three-pointer, the Clippers scored the next eight points before Kawhi Leonard got to the free throw line. Duncan, who had just been subbed in for Tiago Splitter, carried the Spurs the rest of the way for their 15th straight win.

It's loud outside of the AT&T Center and music is blasting for what seems like a huge party. That music, however, is for the San Antonio Spurs' fans as the Spurs finally have a game to host after eight days off. The Spurs will be hosting the "Lob City" Los Angeles Clippers, only "Lob City" is more like "we're banged up city" today.

"We're banged up," said Clipper head coach Vinny Del Negro, a former Spur, "but we can't worry about that right now." The Clippers sustained a multitude of injuries in their first round win against the physical Memphis Grizzlies that took seven games to decide. Blake Griffin is having knee issues, Caron Butler has a broken hand, and Chris Paul also isn't 100% according to Del Negro, but all are ready to battle against San Antonio.

"They're going to come out with a lot of energy," said Del Negro of the Spurs, "we've got to match them." What's so difficult about the Spurs according to Del Negro is that they score the ball at a high rate, and they spread their opponents out. "We've got to get out on our closeouts," said Del Negro of stopping the Spurs' three point shooting.

Asked if the Spurs have the coaching edge in this series, Del Negro quickly said, "absolutely," but he also credits his former coach Gregg Popovich for helping him excel into the coach he's become today. "He's helped me tremendously," said Del Negro of Pop.