The San Antonio Spurs (57-21) will host the lowly Sacramento Kings (28-50) tonight at the AT&T Center in the final meeting of the season between these two teams. Good news for the Spurs is Tony Parker will be back on the court tonight after being out with a sore neck, however, will be without Boris Diaw who will be out 3-4 weeks after back surgery to remove a cyst from his spine.

The Spurs are 3-0 in the regular season versus the Kings. In the last meeting, the Spurs won 130-102 in San Antonio. The Spurs were led by DeJuan Blair’s 16 points while Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter recorded double-doubles. Marcus Thornton led the Kings with 25 points off the bench.

The Spurs are coming off a 86-96 loss to the Nuggets in Denver. Duncan finished with 17 points in a losing effort.

The Kings are coming off a 121-110 win over the Hornets in Sacramento. John Salmons led the Kings with 22 points in the win.

And as the Spurs hope to regain control of the top spot in the West over the Thunder, here are five things to watch for during tonight's contest:

• The Spurs have won 17 of 19 at home by an average of 12.6 points.

• The Spurs have averaged 115.8 points on 54 percent shooting during their current five-game winning streak in this series versus the Kings.

The San Antonio Spurs haven't had a dream season so far and the nightmare has gotten worse for its fans.

The team has released Stephen Jackson.

San Antonio has waived Stephen Jackson, league source tells Y! Sports.

Source on Spurs release of Stephen Jackson: "It's been brewing for a few days."

Gregg Popovich and Stephen Jackson have been sparring over Jax's role throughout season; disagreements resurfaced this week, source tells Y!

Spurs and Jackson discussed a release prior to trade deadline, but sides agreed to go forward together for rest of season, source says. (Adrian Wojnarowski)

DeJuan Blair has had a disappointing season this year with the San Antonio Spurs. He hasn't played his way much into the rotation and hasn't impressed when he has gotten minutes. Now with a recent revelation of controversy surrounding unpaid jewelry, it seems that Blair's time in silver and black may be coming to a really bitter end.

Don't tell DeJuan Blair that though, he's not thinking much about this incident.

“I knew it was coming out before it came out. My attorneys got everything, so it’s not really a big issue for me.”

The suit alleges Blair was allowed to buy, on credit, jewelry worth $53,032.26 from March 10, 2010 to April 10, 2010, and has not paid for the items.

As the battle for the Western Conference number one seed comes to a near conclusion, the San Antonio Spurs are faced with a familiar dilemma -- play your star players and go for the top seed or rest your players to ensure they are ready for the playoffs?

For knowledgeable Spurs fans, it takes you one second (two if you breathe) to know what Coach Greg Popovich choice would be. 

This decision doesn’t mean the last four games are to be thrown away.  After the second unit’s performance against the Denver Nuggets, these four games are much needed as any practice the team will run.

Aron Baynes should make use of anytime he gets to team with Tiago Splitter or Tim Duncan with Boris Diaw resting his back.  Baynes will be called up on to help with the boards, change shots and give another option in the pick-and-roll game. 

When it rains it pours.

The San Antonio Spurs have been hit hard by the injury bug at the worst possible time of the season. From Tony Parker's myriad of injuries, Manu Ginobili's hamstring, to Kawhi Leonard's knee issues, the Spurs are limping into the playoffs which begin in a few days.

And as if that wasn't enough, Boris Diaw (who suffered back spasms recently) underwent surgery on his lower back to remove a cyst from his spine and will be out 3-4 weeks which means he'll miss the entire first round of the playoffs if not more.

As I've written about before, the San Antonio Spurs have for the most part gone away from their draft and stash method that dominated their draft strategy of the middle of the last decade.  They still have drafted guys like Davis Bertans, Adam Hanga and Ryan Richards, but none of those guys were first round picks and the Spurs drafted other guys in the first round that played stateside the following season.

While there could be some gems in the back half of this draft, this might, MIGHT, be the year the Spurs swing for the fences on an international prospect, much like they did with Tony Parker, Tiago Splitter and yes, Ian Mahimni.  They're in good shape salary cap wise, so they don't absolutely need a cheap role player which a pick in the late 20's might provide.  They also have plenty of young trade chips they could use to get an extra pick in the draft.  With that in mind, here's a look at some of the international prospects that could catch the Spurs eye.

The San Antonio Spurs have lost the number one seed in the Western Conference for now, but they can still reclaim it. The Los Angeles Lakers are in the last spot for the playoffs, but they can also climb up to number seven if things play out for them. One thing is for sure, the Spurs and Lakers could still meet in the postseason and can rekindle their heated rivalry days of past seasons.

If they do, there's a lot of possibilities on who can win if you ask their respective fan basis and they'll probably be picking their own teams without hesitation.

For Magic Johnson, it's a no brainer. He predicts for former team, Los Angeles Lakers, would defeat the San Antonio Spurs if they were to meet in the first round.

Danny Green is currently the starting shooting guard for the San Antonio Spurs, but there was a time when his future was uncertain. Now inked to a three-year $12 million contract, the 2010-2011 season seems like a distant memory when Green was cut by the Cleveland Cavaliers and had no job in the NBA.

Green gives us a brief account on what he was going through during that time.

“Once you’re out of the league, it’s very hard to get back in, especially as a young guy with no real resume,” Green said. “You don’t really understand the business side of the game until you’re in it. You don’t know how wild it can get, how it can change and how ugly it can get.” (LIPulse.com)

Green was inexperienced and raw at the level he was during his brief stint with the Cavaliers. He was basically an unknown to the professional basketball world and, as we know, college skills aren't guaranteed to translate to the pro level. 

Talk about a blast from the past with this video gem of San Antonio Spurs' Boris Diaw and Denver Nuggets' Evan Fournier.

Before Fournier ever stepped on an NBA court, he shot a video (which shows him just as a kid) in France with a very young and slim Diaw where they both showed off some on-court magic. Aside from Boris getting up for some dunks and showing off his dribbling skills, Fournier showed he had some moves of his own while going one-on-one with Diaw.

Check out Diaw and Fournier hooping it up, including Boris with a helmet-cam as he muscles his way over Fournier to the rim for the dunk.

On this week's episode of the Spurscast, Project Spurs founder Michael De Leon (@mdeleon)  joins me to talk about the playoffs, which are getting closer by the day.

We preview some potential first round matchups for the San Antonio Spurs and talk about who we'd like to avoid in the postseason. 

We also discuss the Spurs' injury problems and how that will hurt their chances of reaching the NBA Finals this year and Mike makes a prediction about Wednesday night's Spurs/Nuggets game that turns out to come true!

The Spurscast. The original Spurs podcast.

Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.

Download

Music: Fall Out Boy -- Tiffany Blews

As always, you can hit me up on Twitter (@KyleBoenitz) for any podcast suggestions or email me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.