For three quarters, the San Antonio Spurs had a hard time trying to pull away from the Toronto Raptors. When the fourth period started it was a different story.

The Spurs opened the fourth with a 9-2 run, forcing Toronto to call a timeout after a 3-pointer by Matt Bonner with 10:22 remaining and San Antonio lead 90-86.

From there, the Spurs coasted to a 111-100 victory over the Raptors. 

Here are some of the numbers which stood out in this Spurs' win.

70 - The Spurs dominated the inside game, outscoring the Raptors 70-40 on inside points.

30 - San Antonio shared the ball better, dishing out 30 assists compared to the Raptors' 22. The Spurs won the game by outscoring the Raptors 30-16 in the final period.

29 - Andrea Bargnani had a game-high 29 points for the Raptors and added two rebounds and one steal.

Hit the jump for more stats and find out what's next for the Spurs!

• The San Antonio Spurs have defeated the Los Angeles Lakers twice this season but the Lakers' Kobe Bryant still feels the biggest obstacle to another NBA title is through the Boston Celtics:

Bryant said the Celtics are the most daunting opponent in the Lakers' quest to three-peat.

"I think they understand us really well," he said "It's a challenge." (espn.com)

• The Daily Princetonian breaks down Spurs' forward Matt Bonner's true shooting percentage:

True Shooting Percentage: San Antonio Spurs backup power forward Matt Bonner has a shooting percentage of .484. New York Knicks center Ronny Turiaf has a shooting percentage of .636. Sure sounds like Turiaf has been a more effective shooter, right? But we’re leaving out an absolutely crucial component. Virtually all of Turiaf’s shots are two-point shots taken close to the basket while Bonner’s primary role is as a floor-spacer, with over 60 percent of his shots taken from behind the three-point line. Clearly, then, Bonner’s shots tend to have a smaller probability of success and result in more points. TS percentage accounts for this. The idea is similar to shooting percentage but also accounts for free throws and three-point shooting (if a player never made any free throws or three-pointers, his True Shooting Percentage and regular shooting percentage would be identical). When all of those factors are added in, Bonner’s TS percentage jumps to .651, virtually identical to Turiaf’s .650. This statistic helps properly account for the values of spot-up shooters such as Bonner, Boston’s Ray Allen or Miami’s Eddie House, most of whom get their points in large portion from three-point shots and, therefore, have lower field goal percentage than inside players such as Shaquille O’Neal or Dwight Howard. It also punishes poor foul shooters and rewards good ones; Dwight Howard and Al Horford have very similar TS percentage despite Howard’s higher field goal percentage because Horford is significantly better at shooting free throws.

• Spurs' Antonio McDyess had this to say about the Rodeo Road Trip:

Sitting beside his locker before the Spurs’ last home game on Jan. 29, McDyess released a quiet sigh when asked about the upcoming trip. “It’s long,” he said, his voice rising barely above a whisper, “and it’s tiring.” (spurs.com)

Hit the jump to read about the Spurs and the stock market, Malik Rose on back-to-back games, how to win a pair of free tickets to the Spurs-Oklahoma City Thunder game this month, and more.

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)