It is a glorious day for sci-fi geeks across the globe as not only is it Star Wars Day with it being May 4th, as in "May the 4th be with you," but the premier of The Avengers movie.

Comic book fans everywhere are lining up to see Thor, Ironman, The Hulk, Captain America, and the rest of the Avengers, and so are the San Antonio Spurs.

Tony Parker, Tiago Splitter, Tim Duncan, Cory Joseph, Danny Green, Matt Bonner, Manu Ginobili, Boris Diaw and Patty Mills attended the premier of The Avengers last night and were surrounded by fans of the comic book series dressed as their favorite Avenger.

Such a shame not one of the players also got dressed up in an Avenger costume. How funny (or nerdy) would that have been?

New York Knicks' Tyson Chandler was recently named the 2011-12 NBA Defensive Player of the Year. By winning it, he snapped Dwight Howard's streak at winning the award and brought defense to a Knicks team not known for playing defense, especially during Mike D'Antoni's tenure.

Chandler was recently interviewed by Dime Magazine, and spoke about the toughest player he ever had to guard - San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan.

From saying TD was unstoppable in his prime to talking about how gifted Duncan is and much, much more check out what Chandler had to say about Timmy.

Now that they are leading the first-round series 2-0 and completely smashed the Utah Jazz in Game 2, the San Antonio Spurs are comfortably in control of the series versus the Jazz and are looking to win Game 3 Saturday and put a strangle hold on the series.

But even though the Spurs are cruising right now and are looking like they may be headed to the Western Conference Semi-Finals, Manu Ginobili is saying the team must respect Utah and remain humble.

"They are a team that we respect," said Ginobili, who scored only four points in Game 2. "They play hard, they're going to be hurt and they're going to play at home, so there's a lot of things that are combined for expecting a real tough couple of games.  

"We have to stay humble. We just did our job, taking care of homecourt advantage. We'll see how it goes in Salt Lake City."

Exactly Manu!

Until the Spurs are the first to win four games, the series against the Jazz is not over.

On Sunday, the San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz were given the early morning start on ESPN for game one of their opening round playoffs series. On Wednesday, the teams were given another early start so the Memphis Grizzlies and Los Angeles Clippers could have the prime time game. Being two of the smaller markets in this years playoffs, the Spurs and Jazz are used to having TV spots out of the prime time lineup.

Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich seems to be alright with never getting the national attention, because molding the Spurs in the quiet, professional level of the Jazz’ franchise was a plan he’s had since taking over the Spurs in the mid 90s.

“The success that we’ve had and Utah’s had is really satisfying because it has come in small markets,” said Popovich of the two teams, “and people really appreciate it. The fans in both places are unbelievable, and basically demand that we do things a certain way I think.”

“We’re the only games in town, as far as the professional deal in concerned,” continued Popovich, “and when you find an organization that does it with class like we found Utah doing it, when we came here, R.C. (Buford) and I wanted to do it as closely as we could.”

Congratulations to Erazem Lorbek as he as named to the 2011-12 All-ACB team for the second time in his career.

Lorbek averaged 11.6 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 1.7 assists which were enough to have his peers, media and coaches to vote him to the team.

"I am proud to be named to the team, because there are many good players in this league that could also have been named. I am very happy to have been chosen and I thank everyone who voted for me."

"It's very difficult to achieve this, but I think we should highlight the work of the whole team, this season for getting a lot of wins and for finishing first in the league during the regular season."

"This gives me strength to continue, because it means I've done a good job. Now I hope I can keep this pace."

Lorbek (whose rights were acquired by the San Antonio Spurs via a 2011 draft day trade with the Pacers) might be interested in coming to the NBA this summer. Recently, it was reported that Lorbek is coming to the Spurs this summer, however, Lorbek has yet to say anything public about his future plans whether it be in San Antonio or overseas.

During the San Antonio Spurs trouncing of the Utah Jazz in Game 2, a funny exchange happened between Tony Parker and Coach of the Year Gregg Popovich.

The Spurs were up big time on the Jazz and Pop wanted to pull Parker out of the game. TP didn't want to come out of the game just yet when this happened.

OK Spurs fans, how many of you thought it might have been wise for Pop to sit TP and not risk injury seeing how many players have been going down with injuries in the playoffs?

The San Antonio Spurs demolished the Utah Jazz in Game 2 of their seven game series to take a commanding 2-0 lead. From the looks of the first couple games, the Spurs will be busting out their brooms soon and looking ahead to the next round.

What went right?

In a word, plenty!

What impressed me most was how well the Spurs showcased their depth and their ability to spread the ball around. Seven players scored in double figures: all five starters plus Gary Neal and DeJuan Blair. Surprisingly, Manu only had four points and they still won by 31! It was a great team effort from everyone, and the depth this team has makes them extremely tough to beat in a seven game series.

The Spurs also shot incredibly well. I’m not sure if they somehow rigged their rim to be twice the size as normal, but it sure looked that way. They shot 57.3% from the field including 45.5% from beyond the arc, and they made all 10 of their free throws on their way to scoring 114 points.

The 2012 Olympic games are right around the corner which mean San Antonio Spurs' Manu Ginobili will be joining Argentina for another march towards the gold medal. But at 34-years old, this will more than likely be Manu's last run in the Olympics but that doesn't mean he may be done with international basketball competition.

Though Ginobili says this is more than likely his last run with the Argentinian men's team, he is still unsure if he is completely done with international competition for Argentina.

I don’t know yet. I’m quite sure it will be my last Olympics because of my age, but I still haven’t decided if I’ll play again with the national team after this summer. I’ll play this competition as if it were the last one, but we never know. If I’m healthy after the Olympics, there’s a possibility for me to keep playing for Argentina. I’ll decide at the end of the summer.

One thing that's always on Spurs fans minds is the health of Manu when he plays for Argentina. They all remember when he got injured versus Team USA a few Olympic games ago. However, playing for his home country means so much to Ginobili, that it is understandable if he does decide to continue to play for Argentina.

If you consider the fact that reigning MVP Derrick Rose missed almost half the season to various injuries, the Chicago Bulls had a hell of a season.  The Bulls still would've had a hell of a season even if Rose hadn't missed all those games.  They finished with the same record as the San Antonio Spurs and looked great, especially on defense even when Rose was out.  Much of the credit goes to head coach Tom Thibodeau for installing a system that can succeed without its superstar and getting your players to buy in to said system. 

Thibs could've easily been Coach of the Year for the second straight season, and he had a right to believe it was his.  Still, Neil Hayes with the Chicago Sun-Times writes Thibs didn't seem to mind one bit that he lost out to San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich.

“The thing about Pop is he’s a great example for our profession,” Thibodeau said. “I’m happy for him. He’s had a great season. The way he runs an organization, you can’t say enough about him. The thing I really admire about him is I had an opportunity to meet him 20 years ago and he’s the same guy today that he was then. All the success, the championships, he hasn’t changed one bit.”

Great words from a great coach.  Like them or not (and I really don't mostly because of Carlos Boozer and Joakim Noah), the Bulls have a great head coach.  If Rose can come back healthy next season, there's no reason to think they won't be right back in the hunt for the NBA title.  They've got the right guy on the bench to guide them there.  That being said, they'll be lucky to get by Philadelphia and if they do, they'll have a hungry Boston Celtics team waiting for them.

Hopefully the San Antonio Spurs have a long playoff march en route to another NBA title. Currently, the team is leading their first-round series versus the Utah Jazz 2-0 but coming around the corner this summer is the 2012 Olympics where the Spurs will be heavily represented.

Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, Manu Ginobili, Tiago Splitter, and Patty Mills will be representing their respective home country in London but for Mills, he is glad Australia didn't get grouped with Team USA, France and other powerhouse teams but knows the Aussies will have their work cut out for them.

'We were all talking about the draw at [Spurs] practice this morning,'' Mills said. ''It's a great group. Brazil's in there and Great Britain, China, and Spain, and the other group is tough too, but we can definitely do our research on those teams in our group and we can be very, very competitive.

''The thing for us is to set our goals and our standards high, and settle for nothing less than that.''

Indeed, the Australian national team will have a tough time in London. Aside from the US, Spain, France, Argentina, and Brazil are coming in with firepower and Australia (coached by Spurs assistant coach Brett Brown) will be without center Andrew Bogut. And not having Bogut will hurt Australia very much.