After three days of rest and three days focusing on improving their defense, the San Antonio Spurs (55-13) bounced back nicely, beating the Dallas Mavericks (48-21) 97-91 on the road.

When the Spurs couldn't make their shots, they turned to their defense and made sure they secure another victory over their South West Division rivals. The Spurs won the season series 3-1.  

It's now time to look at some numbers that stood out in latest Spurs' win.

94.7 - The Spurs were nearly perfect from the line, making 18-of-19 (94.7%) free throw attempts, including 8-of-8 from Manu Ginobili and 6-of-6 from Tim Duncan. The Mavericks on the other hand, connected on on 13-of-17 (76.5%) of their foul shots.

80 - San Antonio's "Big Three" combined for 80 points and outscored the Mavericks' starters 80-44.

49.3 - The Mavericks shot fairly well from the floor, making 36-of-73 (49.3%) field goal attempts while the Spurs went 36-of-83 (43.4%) from the field.

46 - Both teams were even inside the shaded area, scoring 46 points apiece.

41 - Dallas won the rebound battle, outrebounding the San Antonio 41-36. The Spurs made 7-of-17 (41.2%) 3-pointers and held the Mavericks to just 6-of-23 (26.1%) shooting from behind the arc.

• The San Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks have an intense rivalry but it's only appreciated in Texas and not nationally according to Mavericks' owner Mark Cuban:

"It's appreciated in Texas,'' Cuban said. "But outside the state of Texas they don't give a [hoot].

Spurs and Mavericks players chime in on the rivalry:

• Tim Duncan: "We are always two pretty good teams, and it all comes down to us in the division over the last couple of years,'' Duncan said. "Every game is important when we face each other and every game is always really intense. "It's a lot of fun to play in, a lot of high intensity, great playoff-type atmosphere, and at this part of the season great preparation.''
• Tyson Chandler: "I think everybody on this team has a little bad blood towards the Spurs,'' Chandler said. "They knocked me out of the playoffs [in New Orleans] a couple of years ago, and they knocked [the Mavs] out last year.' "They're so well balanced,'' Chandler said. "Definitely you've got to give a lot of credit to coach Pop and what he's been able to accomplish just putting guys in a system. That says a lot about a coach.''
• Jason Terry: "Obviously you know what the rivalry means to us,'' Terry said. "It's a fierce competitive one and everybody's going to come to play tonight. "The many battles we've had over the years, obviously it's one of the biggest games on your schedule every year. No matter where you play it, it's going to be intense, and it's going to be a fight to the finish.'' (star-telegram.com)

• With the NCAA Tournament underway, Express News' Tim Griffin talks about new Spur Danny Green as the only Spurs player with an NCAA title ring.

• NBA.com looked at the best bench lineups and the San Antonio Spurs have the best:

But the No. 1 offensive lineup in the league is also a bench unit. The Spurs‘ lineup of George Hill, Gary Neal, Manu Ginobili, Matt Bonner and Antonio McDyess barely meets the 100 minutes requirement, but has been amazingly efficient.

That Spurs lineup edges out the Bulls’ lineup of Rose, Brewer, Luol Deng, Gibson and Asik as the best bench lineup in the league overall. And yes, Ginobili, Rose and Deng are all starters.

• Take a listen to the catchy theme song "Go Coach B" from Matt Bonner's "Fundamentals of the Game" series and download it at Spurs.com.

Go Coach B by Bodega Girls by SanAntonioSpurs

Hit the jump to read on how you can win free tickets to the Spurs-Portland Trail Blazers in San Antonio this month, a former Spur is listed as a top 10 player, where you can see Matt Bonner in San Antonio and more.

Former San Antonio Spurs owner Red McCombs will be honored at the 2011 Muhammad Ali Celebrity Fight Night Foundation Awards as a leader in sports, entertainment and business:

“I’m so honored to be recognized by the Muhammad Ali foundation,” McCombs says.

“I’ve always admired those who are committed to making a difference and this (Fight Night Foundation) organization makes a difference and is supported by people who make a difference,” McCombs says. “It’s a privilege to be honored with the other recipients who have done so much for their causes also.”

He has also been honored by the American Academy of Achievement, San Antonio Business Hall of Fame, San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame, Texas Business Hall of Fame, and the College Football Hall of Fame.

McCombs and others were instrumental in bringing the Spurs to San Antonio from Dallas when the team was the Dallas Chaparrals in a "lend-lease" arrangement. Once the Spurs were a hit in San Antonio, he bought the team (1972) and the rest is history.

Tonight the San Antonio Spurs will face their I-35 rival Dallas Mavericks and Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle had this to say about the Spurs:

"This is by far the best team in basketball," Carlisle said after this morning's shootaround at American Airlines Center. "They have been all year long."

"They've just been extremely consistent; they've been healthy all year, very efficient, terrific at both ends and it's culminated with a great record for them," Carlisle said. "Every seven games if you look at their trend -- whether it's from the previous seven -- you get a different list of guys that are the leading scorers, and the order changes a little bit.

"I believe they're the only team in the league that has nine guys averaging 20 or more minutes. So that tells you about their balance and the fact that you really can't key in on one particular guy."

Of course Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich differed about his own team:

"Is he trying to be tricky again?" Popovich asked. "Ricky, what are you doing? He's by far the biggest exaggerator I've ever seen. He's being quite disingenuous."

"I wouldn't want to play Dallas 15 times in a row," Popovich said. "That would be difficult. I don't think I'd want to play Dallas followed by the Lakers followed by Denver every single night. It'll be nice to have a night where you can relax a little bit, truth be known."

I'm sure just once Spurs fans would love to hear Popovich come out and say "Hell yeah we're the best team in the NBA!"

Volume 13 of Views from the Couch ended with the San Antonio Spurs (54-13) beating the Miami Heat by 30-points and had this closing line: “Like a Bosh. Like a, like a Bosh.” 

Since then the Spurs have gone 3-2 by displaying themselves as a volleyball team against the Los Angeles Lakers, squeaking out wins against the Detroit Pistons, Sacramento Kings, Houston Rockets, and “Like a Bosh” scored 30-points in Miami's 30-point blowout in a revenge game against the Spurs.

And since the Spurs recently attended a Lady Gaga concert in San Antonio . . . “Ra ra-ah-ah-ah. Roma roma-ma. Gaga, ooh la la. Let’sssss start Views Frrrrrom the Cccccouch!”-Lady Gaga

Bad Romance

 (I still find it odd, yet very surprising to find out that on Tuesday night half of the San Antonio Spurs team went to the Lady Gaga concert? After they did that, no one should every say they’re “boring".)

I've looked at numbers, listened to post game interviews and am still baffled as to why the Spurs are struggling so much? Is it because of the insertion of Antonio McDyess into the starting lineup? Is it because the frontline couldn't ride a roller coaster that said “You must be at least seven feet tall?" Is it because the team is in a slump on both ends of the court?

Tonight the San Antonio Spurs will face the Dallas Mavericks in Dallas in what could be a possible playoff preview and Spurs head coach is using these final games of the regular season to see which lineups and rotations work best for the playoffs.

However, Antonio McDyess does say a few of the players are not in sync with one another offensively. This may be of concern seeing how at this point of the season isn't the time to have offensive chemistry issues.

(video woai.com)

The San Antonio Spurs (54-13) have the NBA's best record but look vulnerable recently. The Spurs had three days off to make adjustments following Monday's 110-80 loss at Miami which was their worst loss in the regular season. 

The Dallas Mavericks (48-20) will surely try their hardest to beat the Spurs with Dirk Nowitzki back in the lineup.

The Spurs have a 6 1/2-game lead over Dallas and the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference but have gone 3-2 over their last five outings. 

The Mavericks have struggled recently as well. After losing four of six, including consecutive games to the Lakers and Portland, they trailed by 18 before beating the Golden State Warriors 112-106 last Wednesday. Nowitzki finished with 34 points and 13 rebounds in that game.

While San Antonio is 2-1 against Dallas this season, the Spurs lost the only game in which Nowitzki played. He scored 26 points in a 103-94 victory last November 26.

Defense has become a problem for the Spurs, who have given up 106 points per game in their last four, almost nine more than their season average.

The Mavericks lost to the Spurs in the first round of last year's playoffs with a healthy Nowitzki, but they've won the last four regular-season meetings when he's played. He averaged 28.0 points in those four victories.

Hit the jump to find out the keys to the game for the Spurs and Mavericks, and which team wins this game.

• The San Antonio Spurs will face their rival Dallas Mavericks tomorrow night and it would seem Dallas will be without Peja Stojakovic:

It is assumed, but certainly not guaranteed that Stojakovic will return to the starting lineup if and when he's healthy. It is not known if he'll be ready to play Friday against the San Antonio Spurs. Stojakovic did not travel on the two-game road trip. (espn.com)

• SportsIllustrated.com talks about Tim Duncan evolution with the Spurs:

Duncan has been and continues to be the Spurs' stopper. He'll turn 35 next month, and his minutes (28.7), points (13.3) and other stats are at career-lows. But when the playoffs arrive those numbers will surely rise, practically out of habit.

"I've never talked to Timmy one time about changing his role -- we've had zero discussions about it," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. "And his role really hasn't changed. He may not get as many touches as he used to, but he's still the foundation of our defense. He still creates the environment on the floor for us and is basically the center of the universe."

• With the NCAA Tournament underway, Morehead State's Kenneth Faried is the NCAA all-time leader in rebounds passing Tim Duncan and is compared to former Spur Dennis Rodman:

Morehead State's Kenneth Faried is the NCAA's all-time leading rebounder.

He passed a guy who was pretty good in his college days and had a fair level of success at the NBA - Tim Duncan (Wake Forest, San Antonio Spurs).

The 6-foot-8 senior passed Duncan in mid-February. Then he had 1,576 rebounds, six more than Duncan collected at Wake Forest from 1994-97.

"My admiration for this young man Faried...you know, you don't see this anymore. You don't see a Dennis Rodman come along anymore," Pitino said of comparing the Morehead State boarder to the former NBA standout. "He's Dennis Rodman with a jump shot. That's one of the highest compliments I can give, because I am a big fan of Rodman from my NBA (coaching) days. A guy who gets around, never lets you catch the ball in the post; shot blocker, great defender, draws the charge - and is the leading rebounder in the history of the game." (heraldextra.com)

• Express News' Tim Griffin talks about the Spurs going to see Lady Gaga.

Hit the jump to read about how you can win free tickets to the Spurs-Portland Trail Blazers this month in San Antonio, a couple of former Spurs signing with NBA teams, eight stupid things sports fans say where the Spurs and David Robinson were mentioned, and more.

With barely a month before the playoffs begins, and a few bumps along the road recently, the San Antonio Spurs still hold the league's best record at 54-13 and will likely lock up the number one seed by winning 10 of their last 15 games.

But a quick glance at their schedule shows they still play eight games against playoff-bound teams -- including Dallas, Boston and the Los Angeles Lakers -- four games versus teams fighting for a playoff spot and only three against below .500 teams.

This means securing homecourt advantage throughout the post-season will be no cake walk for the Spurs. 

Coach Gregg Popovich has managed the minutes of his starters very well this season. Tim Duncan and Antonio McDyess are averaging career lows in minutes per-game at 28.7 and 18.1 respectively. Also, Richard Jefferson (30.7 mpg) is having a career low in minutes per game since his rookie campaign. Among the starters, only Tony Parker (32.2 mpg) and Manu Ginobili (30.9) have averaged more minutes than the previous season but not by much.

The Spurs are known to always look at the bigger picture and for them, resting their starters more and staying healthy will be key for a great playoff run. This begs the question, is it time to give more minutes to their bench as they get ready for the playoffs?

New Jersey Nets' Deron Williams was recently asked which team was the toughest he has faced either as a member of the Utah Jazz or the Nets.

His pick? The San Antonio Spurs.

“I’d say San Antonio. They just know how to manage, they know how to play and they  know how to win. They’re just consistent. So consistent.”

Williams went on to say as a member of the Eastern Conference, he has switched his hatred from the Spurs to the best in the East:

“Well that’s why I say you’ve got to switch your hatred. I’ve got to switch my hatred from the Lakers, the Spurs, now I’ve got to switch it to the Bulls, the Celtics. So it’s different.”

Consistency, and management. Two words you hear constantly from other players when talking about the Spurs.