With the best record in the NBA at 43-8, the San Antonio Spurs are by far the best team in the league. But don't tell that to Spurs' coach Gregg Popovich.
Popovich still feels the Spurs have one particular area to improve on. Care to guess what area that is? Check out the video:
(video woai.com)
The San Antonio Spurs (43-8) will face the Toronto Raptors (14-38) tonight in Toronto as the 
Rodeo Road Trip continues.
The Spurs are coming off a 100-89 win over the Detroit Pistons last night led by Tony Parker with 19 points. This game will be the second of three back-to-back game situations for the Spurs on the Rodeo Road Trip and so far the Spurs are 5-4 on the second game of a back-to-backs this season.
The Raptors are coming off a 92-74 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks led by Andrea Bargnani with 23 points.
The last time these two teams met, it was a 104-95 win for the Spurs in San Antonio where DeJuan Blair had a 22-point, 11-rebound night; and Tim Duncan posted 10-points, 12-rebounds for the Spurs.
Currently, the Spurs hold an overall 21-9 series lead and are 9-5 in Toronto.
To talk about tonight's contest, I spoke with fellow Bloguin NBA blogger Sean from Hoop Heads North. A must visit site for all things Raptors.
In this Q&A, Sean speaks on his disappointment with the Raptors, keys for the Raptors to beat the Spurs and more.
Jeff: You recently had a lot to say about the Raptors roster being not competitive, "Call me an optimist, but I felt the talent on the Raptors roster was enough to be competitive. It seems that was just a pipe dream, and practically an impossibility now."
Care to elaborate?
The San Antonio Spurs will be sending two players to represent the Spurs at the 2011 All-Star game but point guard Tony Parker is not one of them. Instead, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili will be on the Western Conference bench coached by Spurs' coach Gregg Popovich.
A few felt he deserved a spot on the West squad even over teammate Tim Duncan, while some felt the Spurs' "Big Three" of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili should have made the trip to Los Angeles later this month.
So what does Parker and Ginobili have to say about the snub? Check it out.
(video woai.com)
• San Antonio Spurs fans this may cause you some irritation. NBA.com's Shaun Powell has a few ideas on how the NBA 
can hold on to the casual fans and it includes stopping the San Antonio Spurs from spoiling the fun:
Keep the Spurzzzzzzz from spoiling the fun. Look, nothing against the loyal basketball fans in San Antonio, and the Hall of Fame-worthy coach, and the Big Fundamental and all that. Seriously: Congrats on the fine season so far. But can we all agree to end it in May? Nobody's saying the Spurs aren't worthy of being champions; on the contrary, with oodles of depth and experience, they've got a title twinkle. And that's what's scary, because the ratings in the NBA Finals were flatter than Tim Duncan's free throws whenever the Spurs showed up. Do you want to spend June stifling a yawn? Didn't think so, either. Effective but dreadfully boring, like a Harvard biochemistry lecture, the Spurs own a variety of punches that can put other teams to sleep. They can work over an audience, too.
• More people are tuning in to the San Antonio Spurs in the San Antonio viewing area on Fox Sports Southwest:
Another success story is in San Antonio, where the league-leading Spurs have averaged a 10.01 local rating. (sportsbusinessdaily.com)
• Spurs' Manu Ginobili suffered an accidental hit to the lip from teammate Gary Neal in the win over the Sacramento Kings and now Ginobili wants payback:
Hit the jump to hear what Manu had to say about Neal's inadvertent hit, why Tim Duncan deserved a spot on the All-Star squad and more:
All San Antonio Spurs fans collectively gasped at the sight of San Antonio Spurs' forward Tim Duncan's fall to the court in the game against the Golden State Warriors in January.
Fortunately for the Spurs Duncan was fine and fans breathed a sigh of relief. However, it made me think, can the Spurs survive without Duncan or Manu Ginobili for a while should either suffer an injury?
The Spurs are having one of their best seasons in recent memory. Fifty games into the season, the Spurs hold an NBA best 42-8 record.
Who would have thought they will be the league's best team at this point of the season? Not many people can claim they saw this coming and maybe no one can.
Hit the jump to see how the numbers stack up for the Spurs with Duncan and Ginobili on the court and more.
The San Antonio Spurs have officially announced the signing of Steve Novak:
The San Antonio Spurs today announced they have signed forward Steve Novak from the Reno Bighorns of the NBA Development League to a 10-day contract. Novak is the eighth call-up of the 2010-11 D-League season.
Novak, a 6-10 forward, has appeared in two games with the Bighorns, averaging 18.5 points and 6.5 rebounds in 29.5 minutes, while shooting .684 (13-19) from the field and .643 (9-14) from three-point range. Prior to joining the Bighorns, Novak appeared in seven games with the Dallas Mavericks, averaging 1.6 points in 2.6 minutes.
Originally a second round draft pick (32nd overall) of the Houston Rockets in 2006, Novak played two seasons in Houston before being traded to the Los Angeles Clippers. In his first season with the Clippers in 2008-09, Novak averaged career-highs of 6.9 points and 1.8 rebounds in 16.4 minutes while shooting .444 (176-396) from the field, .416 (119-286) from three-point range and .913 (21-23) from the free throw line. In his five-year NBA career, Novak has appeared in 202 games, averaging 4.0 points and 1.1 rebounds in 9.9 minutes, while shooting .435 (289-664) from the field, .406 (191-471) from three-point range and .868 (33-38) from the free throw line.
Novak will wear No. 23 for the Silver and Black and will be available for tonight’s game at Detroit.
The San Antonio Spurs will face the Detroit Pistons tonight who might be without their All-Star guard Rip Hamilton:
Richard Hamilton is a gametime decision for tonight against the San Antonio Spurs because of a sore groin.
But even if he is healthy, he’s a game-time decision because Pistons coach John Kuester wants it that way.
Kuester said Monday he was proud of how Hamilton played Saturday night, but there is no guarantee he will be in the rotation moving forward.
Also Pistons' coach Kuester had to say this about the Spurs winning ways this season:
"They’re accustomed to it because they do it year in and year out," he said. "It’s one of these things where they have handled business fairly well. You can tell by their record."
"They’ve got great veterans, great leadership and a great coach," Kuester said. "They play hard, they play smart and they always play together. It’s very impressive to watch."
(source: mlive.com)
| TEAM LEADERS | |||
| Points | Rebounds | Assists | |
| SPURS | Manu Ginobili 18.5 | Tim Duncan 9.3 | Tony Parker 6.7 |
| PISTONS | Rodney Stuckey 15.3 | Ben Wallace 6.6 | Rodney Stuckey 4.5 |
The San Antonio Spurs continue their Rodeo Road Trip tonight against the Detroit Pistons at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Their overall nine-game road stretch began when they went 2-1 last week before returning home after Saturday's 113-100 victory at Sacramento.
The Spurs are coming off an easy win over the Sacramento Kings, building an 18-point halftime lead after losing at Portland and beating the Los Angeles Lakers. Last season, the Spurs split two tough games against the Pistons with Hamilton averaging 28 points per game.
The Pistons are on a two game win streak and are coming off a nice 89-78 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks. Tracy McGrady scored 20 points, Hamilton had 15 and Tayshaun Prince had 12 points for Detroit in that game. However, they are dealing with what appears to be some internal issues with their All-Star guard Rip Hamilton. Since the Carmelo Anthony trade rumors heated up, Rip has been collecting a lot of DNPs and some speculate his time in Detroit might be over.
With a win, San Antonio can become the seventh team to begin 43-8 or better. The 1996-97 NBA champion Chicago Bulls were the last team to do it, starting 45-6.
Hit the jump to find out the keys to the game for the Spurs and Pistons, and which team wins this game.
• Want to win two free tickets to the San Antonio Spurs-Oklahoma City Thunder game in San Antonio later this month? All you have to do is follow @projectspurstiq on Twitter to enter for a chance to win.
• Express News' Tim Griffin reports Manu Ginobili is fine after receiving an accidental elbow from Gary Neal during the Sacramento Kings game:
“It just happened,” Ginobili said. “He grabbed a rebound and was protecting the ball. I don’t know if I got pushed or something, but I ran right into his elbow.”
Ginobili crumpled to the ground after the elbow, which drew blood from his lip. After the injury, Ginobili did not return to the game.
“I was very upset because the Lakers game was tough for me. I got hit a lot and everything was sore,” Ginobili said. ” I thought I was taking this game kind of easy (at the end of the game.) We were up 15 or 20 and nothing was going to happen today and then on my last play boom, I got hit.”
• Matt Bonner is getting some support from The Basketball Jones for his spot on the 2011 NBA All-Star Three-Point Shootout. Check out the Napoleon Dynamite inspired video campaign for Bonner:
Hit the jump to see the video, to read ESPN's take on DeJuan Blair and George Hill, and more
The San Antonio Spurs just announced they are re-assigning rookie guard James Anderson to the Austin Toros.
Anderson was with the Toros for two games before the Spurs called him back up prior to their game with the Houston Rockets last Saturday.
Anderson, a 6-6, 215-pound guard, was originally assigned to Austin on January 26. He appeared in two games for the Toros, averaging 14.5 points and 2.0 rebounds in 14.0 minutes. He shot .556 (10-18) from the field, .444 (4-9) from three-point territory and .714 (5-7) from the free throw line. Anderson was recalled by the Spurs on January 29 and saw limited action in three games.
The move should help Anderson, who was still working on his conditioning through his stint with the Toros. At the time, Toros coach Brad Jones said that Anderson looked tired after his second game. A gradual increase in minutes per game seems to be exactly what Anderson needs.
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