• The San Antonio Spurs will host Fan Appreciation Night on Saturday April 9 when the Spurs host the Utah Jazz:

Fans can look forward to fun prizes including; H-E-B gift cards, Cowboys tickets courtesy of AT&T, Express Lube coupons, Academy Sports + Outdoors gift cards, Sea World passes, Planet Fitness free memberships, Taco Cabana coupons and much more.

Tickets are available starting at $10 for Fan Appreciation Night and can be purchased at all Ticketmaster Ticket Center locations, charge by phone at (210) 225-TEAM, online at spurs.com or ticketmaster.com or at the AT&T Center Southeast Box Office Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and starting at 10 a.m. on weekend event days. (spurs.com)

• With the Portland Trail Blazers recent win over the Dallas Mavericks, the Spurs locked up the Southwest Division and are officially the Southwest Division Champs!

• Former Spurs player Antonio Daniels got the call-up from the D-League's Texas Legends to the Philadelphia 76ers to fill-in for the injured Lou Williams:

Sixers head coach Doug Collins said Monday that Daniels, the 36-year-old veteran point guard, will officially join the Sixers on a 10-day contract Tuesday morning in Boston, where the Sixers will face the Celtics later in the day at TD Garden. (csnphilly.com)

• Fox Sports Ohio says Tim Duncan and Boston Celtics' Shaquille O'Neal still matter:

The Spurs and Celtics also know the postseason is a slow-it-down, grind-it-out and physical brand of basketball. And both teams possess rosters in line with that philosophy.

Duncan and O’Neal are still the anchors to that approach. Even now, and even though they aren’t as forceful as they once were, the two most dominant big men of the past decade really matter again.

• Austin Toros' Lance Thomas spoke on the seizure he suffered during a regular season game against the Idaho Stampede:

“I feel fine,” Thomas said. “The hit I took was pretty bad at the moment with what happened, but I feel fine now. I have to wait a little bit until I have clearance from the doctors. From the standpoint of day-to-day from when it happened, I feel fine.” (TorosNation.com)

Apparently a man dressed like Jesus has been frequenting San Antonio Spurs games and spreading his love for the Spurs.

Sure, the Boston Celtics have Aztec Gino, and the Los Angeles Clippers have Clipper Darrell, but I believe the Spurs' "Jesus" trumps all. With him around and if the Spurs win a fifth title, could it be seen as Spurs Jesus' divine intervention?

Here are a few photos of him from recent games. If you know who he is, let us know, we'd love to interview him.

 

 (H/T to Jordan Rivas for the photos)

Note: This episode was recorded before yesterday's win against the Phoenix Suns.

On this episode of the Spurscast, Jeff and I look back at the six-game losing streak and analyze what went wrong through the entire skid and what the Spurs would need to do to correct them before the playoffs.

Our topic of the week was if San Antonio Spurs fans should be pressing the panic button and if it's too soon to do that. Jeff and I both agreed that we were concerned, but if they extended the streak, concerned would turn to panic quick. Before ending the show, we discussed the latest news including Danny Green's one-game assignment to the Austin Toros.

The Spurscast. The original Spurs podcast.

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The San Antonio Spurs snapped their six-game losing streak yesterday with a win over the Phoenix Suns. Helping the Spurs get the win was Matt Bonner who poured in 16 points and leading the way for the Spurs was George Hill with 29 points.

Check out what Bonner and Hill had to say on the win, snapping the losing streak, fake Spurs fans and more.

SportsDayDFW.com has been having a March Menace Tournament where fans of Dallas professional franchises can vote for the one person they love to hate.

San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan and former Spur Bruce Bowen were named as players Dallas Mavericks fans love to hate but now it has come down to Duncan versus Bennett Salvatore as the number one person Mavs fans love to hate.


I find it interesting Duncan received more votes over Bowen to advance to the Finals especially with the reputation Bowen had during his time in the NBA.

What about you Spurs fans? Which current or former Mavs players would you have in your finals as the number one player you love to hate?

For all of the regular season, the San Antonio Spurs held the top spot in the NBA and built a seemingly insurmountable lead over the rest of the league. But after a six-game losing streak -- recently snapped with a win over the Phoenix Suns -- the race for the top seed throughout the playoffs has turned into a down-the-wire finish. 

So what went wrong?

Besides Tim Duncan being out in four games and Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili missing one game a piece, the Spurs allowed 104.7 points per game in their last 11 games. They were 10th in the league in points allowed with 96.3 points per game during the first half of the season. 

In their six game losing slump, San Antonio allowed their opponents to score 108.3 points per game while averaging just 102.5 points. During that span, the Spurs shot 47.8 percent from the field while allowing their opponents to 50.3 percent shooting from the floor.

Beside their glaring decline on the defensive end, Ginobili and Matt Bonner struggled with their shot. In those six losses, Ginobili shot 40.9 percent from the field and was only 32.3 percent from the 3-point area while Bonner was even worse, shooting just 38.8 percent from the field, including a horrible 26.0% from beyond the arc. 

• The San Antonio Spurs beat the Phoenix Suns today snapping their six-game losing streak. A much-needed win with the Los Angeles Lakers creeping up on the number one seed; however, the Denver Nuggets beat the Lakers today thus the Spurs' lead is now at two and a half games.

• With today's win over the Suns, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich is now one win away from matching legendary Boston Celtics coach Red Auerbach for the most wins with one team with 795.

• Also, the Spurs officially eliminated the Suns from the playoffs with their win today.

• Express News' Tim Griffin gives his five takes from the Spurs win over the Suns.

• Former Spur Dennis Rodman says he will be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame:

Dennis Rodman said Friday night that he will be enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame. Rodman says he was informed Thursday to be in Houston for Monday's announcement before the championship game of the NCAA tournament. (espn.com)

• The Spurs' D-League affiliate Austin Toros were officially eliminated from the D-League playoffs with a loss to the Texas Legends and their season is over. Here is what Toros head coach Brad Jones had to say:

Jones, who was talking with Spurs GM R.C. Buford and VP of Basketball Operations Danny Ferry after the game outside the locker room, will take the next few days to do some exit interviews and start planning for the summer.

“We’ll see what the Spurs want from us and what we have to do as a staff,” Jones said.

Overall, Jones said his first season with the Toros was both fun and disappointing.

“At times (I had fun),” Jones said. “Every year, there is a challenge. It was a little bit more of a challenge this year with all the roster turnover. Not being able to fulfill the team goals of winning more, I’m very disappointed about, but in the midst of all the fight is a lot of fun. Sometimes you just don’t get the outcome you desire.”

Read the complete article at Toros Nation.

The San Antonio Spurs were finally able to get back into the win column today and ended their six-game losing streak with a convincing win over the Phoenix Suns in front of a sellout crowd at the AT&T Center.

George Hill was the difference-maker for the Spurs and he was key in getting the Spurs out to an early lead.

Hill entered the game midway through the first quarter with the Spurs down by one and went to work immediately, leading the Spurs on a 14-2 run by attacking the paint, getting to the line and knocking down a pair of three-pointers all for 16 points in the first quarter alone.

"When (Hill) comes off the bench and he gives what Manu used to give us coming off the bench, it really helps our group. I thought he did that very well today," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said

By the end of the quarter, the Spurs had built up a 15-point lead, 35-20, which forced the Suns to play catchup for the rest of the game.

The Spurs kept the same pace to start the second quarter by scoring the first five points. The threes started falling shortly after, with Gary Neal, Hill and Matt Bonner all hitting from beyond the arch. To add to the insult, Tiago Splitter finished off a mini-run with a dunk.

The Suns answered back with a 10-2 run of their own, but the tides turned in the Spurs favor when Hill re-entered the game for Richard Jefferson and immediately knocked down a three-pointer and then ended the quarter with a jumper at the buzzer, sending the Spurs into the locker room at the half up 70-46.

While the Suns tried to fight back the remainder of the game by outscoring the Spurs in the third and fourth quarter, it was too late and the Spurs secured the win with one more rally early in the fourth.

Hill lead both teams in scoring with 29 points, crucial in a game where the big three all failed to score in double digits.

In our most recent recording of the Spurscast, which will go up tomorrow, we addressed the need for Hill play as aggressively as he did when he was starting, likely a message he heard before today's game.

"(Hill) needs to be aggressive, especially coming off the bench," Spurs guard Tony Parker said. "Tonight he was great, being very aggressive, shooting the ball very well, playing great defense. He did everything tonight."

The San Antonio Spurs will host the Phoenix Suns at the AT&T Center tonight and will face a Suns team without Steve Nash:

Phoenix Suns guard Steve Nash did not travel to San Antonio with the team Saturday and will miss Sunday's game against the Spurs due to the illness that sidelined him Friday night.

Nash was suffering from flulike symptoms when he was sent home prior to Friday night's win against the Los Angeles Clippers.

With the Spurs on a six game losing streak, and their grip on the number one seed in the NBA playoffs slipping, I'm sure they will take any advantage to help them break this skid and get back on the winning track.