• Want to win a pair of free tickets to a San Antonio Spurs home game next month? Of course you do! All you have to do it follow @projectspurstiq on Twitter to enter. Easy huh?

• David Aldridge of NBA.com talks about the San Antonio Spurs and the subtle changes made which has made them one of the top teams in the NBA:

So much for the supposedly warmer and cuddlier Pop, who went to a zone defense out of desperation last week against Denver because, as he recalled it, no one was guarding anybody, anyway. Might as well mess up the Nuggets, too. And, of course, it worked, like most everything has worked out so far this year for the Spurs . . .

• Express News' Tim Griffin talks about DeJuan Blair and his rebounding prowess, on one possession! Check it out.

• Who is Martin Iti? Well if you don't know him, the Spurs sure do. In fact they once offered the sever-footer, once considered one of the top centers by ESPN, Southland Sharks player out of the New Zealand Basketball League an offer to workout with them:

Some would call it a fall from grace for a man who five years ago attracted interest from NBA teams and was once ranked behind superstar LeBron James in a list of America's most promising young basketball players.

After Iti's freshman year at college in 2003-04, where he averaged six points and six rebounds a game, the bright lights of the NBA began to dawn.

He contemplated putting his name in the NBA draft and received offers to work out for Miami Heat, the San Antonio Spurs and the Toronto Raptors.

• Spurs' coach Gregg Popovich gives credit where credit is due in the win over the Washington Wizards:

• Speaking about the win over the Wizards, check out what Tony Parker had to say about the win:

(videos by woai.com)

The San Antonio Spurs hold the best record (26-4) in the NBA thanks to great team play, chemistry, and two winning streaks of 12 and 10 games.

However, like they say, all good things comes to an end so let's break down the two winning streaks and see how the numbers looked.

12 game winning streak:

• Averaged 109.1 points per game.
• Held their opponents to 98.8 points per game.
• Average margin of victory was 10.3 points.
• Had one back-to-back game situation and won both games.
• Beat four teams with at or at an above .500 winning percentage.
• Beat eight teams with a below .500 winning percentage.
• Had 15 days off during the winning streak.

10 game winning streak:

• Averaged 107.4 points per game.
• Held their opponents to 97 points per game.
• Average margin of victory was 10.4 points.
• Had two back-to-back game situations and split them (1-1).
• Beat five teams with or at an above .500 winning percentage.
• Beat five teams with a below .500 winning percentage.
• Had 10 days off during the winning streak.

Aside from an favorable schedule during the 12 game winning streak, you can see the Spurs were pretty much the same statistically which is a positive. Sure they dropped off a bit offensively but it was negligible. The other positive thing to take away is their defensive stats got a bit better.

However, in the 10 game winning streak the Spurs were showing signs of slowing down a bit. They were winning by an average of 4.6 points in the last five games.

The loss to the Orlando Magic was likely to happen. They faced a tough Denver Nuggets team the night before then had to travel to Florida to face a solid Magic team. The fatigue, and travel caught up with them. 

It will be interesting to see how the Spurs respond with a rough stretch of games ahead and if these stats will continue. After beating the Washington Wizards, they will face winning teams such as the Los Angeles Lakers, Dallas Mavericks, and Oklahoma City Thunder.

The San Antonio Spurs made sure there were no letdowns against a cellar-dwelling team beating the Washington Wizards 94-80 at the AT&T Center.

The Spurs improve to 26-4 and rebound from a 123-101 loss to the Orlando Magic last Thursday.

George Hill returned to the lineup after missing four games because of a sprained right toe.

Now, let's check out some numbers that stood out in this latest Spurs win.

51 - With the Wizards being short-handed, you would expect the Spurs to control the boards. That was not the case, the Wizards outrebounded the Spurs 51-44 with Hilton Armstrong and Rashard Lewis combining for 25 rebounds.

41.7 - The Spurs hit their outside shots connecting 10-24 (41.7%) from behind the arc, including, 5-7 (71.4%) from Manu Ginobili. The Wizards only made 5-15 (33.3%) from the 3-point line.

37.5 - San Antonio held the Wizards to just 33-88 shooting from the field (37.5%) which is a season-low for a Spurs opponent.

27 - The Spurs played better as a team, they finished the game with 27 assists compared to only 18 for the Wizards.

21 - Ginobili and Lewis led their respective teams with 21 points a piece.

20-14 - Tony Parker ran the show, he scored 20 points, dished out a season-high 14 assists and grabbed six rebounds for San Antonio.

19 - The Spurs' running game worked well, they outscored the Wizards 19-7 on fast break points.

11 - George Hill made a triumphant return to the Spurs lineup, he had 11 points, two assists, one rebound and one steal while shooting a perfect 3-3 from the field in 16 minutes of action. The Spurs notched their 11th consecutive win over the Wizards in San Antonio. The Washington Wizards last beat the Spurs at the Alamodome on Dec. 11, 1999.

9 - Gary Neal and Matt Bonner scored nine points each from the Spurs' bench. Tim Duncan and Richard Jefferson scored only five points each. However, both helped the Spurs in other areas, Duncan added nine boards, four assists and a game-high three blocks. Jefferson also had nine rebounds, three assists and one steal. More importantly, Duncan logged just 25 minutes for the game.

8 - DeJuan Blair scored eight points and grabbed four boards in 22 minutes. Despite his lack of height, Blair continues to be relentless on the boards.

0 - Bonner, Blair, Neal, Udoka and Quinn did not commit a turnover for the entire game.

Rookie Watch: Neal had nine points, two rebounds, one assists and one steal in 24 minutes of action. Tiago Splitter was scoreless but had one rebound and a block shot in 5 minutes of playing time.

What's Next? The Spurs will host the defending champion Los Angeles Lakers at the AT&T Center in San Antonio on Tuesday.

Follow Robby Lim on Twitter @RobbyLim21

Here is some locker room material for the San Antonio Spurs.

There is a huge game looming on the horizon for the Spurs and no it's not the Los Angeles Lakers next week. Though that is a great game as well. The Spurs will face the Dallas Mavericks in Dallas this coming Thursday which will pit two of the best teams in the NBA. Well maybe just one best team according to Mavericks' guard Jason Terry:

"It's still a fight. But we've positioned ourselves now to go out and have a great season. I think personally we're better than every team in the league. And that's no disrespect to the Spurs or anybody."  (source dallasnews.com)

No disrespect Terry? OK granted the Mavericks have beaten the Spurs this season but to say you mean no disrespect might be an understatement.

Terry has always been lobbing verbal bombs at the Spurs going as far as saying it's personal with him when it comes to the Spurs, accusing the Spurs of dirty play and let's not forget the punch to the groin of former Spur Michael Finley. Even this past summer, Terry sounded off about the Spurs beating the Mavericks in the 2010 NBA playoffs in a supposed conversation with coach Popovich this summer in Las Vegas. Though Popovich denied instigating that particular point.

Wait there's more. Dirk Nowitzki also chimed in about the Spurs' winning ways:

"They're playing well," Nowitzki said of the Spurs. "Good teams play hard, and you have to give them credit. It almost seems like they changed their philosophy a bit, but for some reason, the Spurs always win. They used to win games, 75-74, and now they win games 110-109, but it's the same thing. They always win."

All this does is keeps the heated rivalry between these two team alive and well. After this statement by Terry, I'm sure all Spurs fans will be tuning in to watch this colossal matchup. 

After a crushing loss to the Orlando Magic, the San Antonio Spurs look to get back on track and start a new winning streak as they face the Washington Wizards tonight in San Antonio -- a place that has been unkind to the Wizards.

To talk about the matchup, I turn to fellow NBA blogger here at Bloguin Joe from Wizards Extreme -- the only place Wizards and NBA fans should go to for all things Wizards.

In this Q&A, Joe talks about the Wizards' recent trade, the recent incident between two Wizards' players, tonight's game and more. To read the Q&A I did with Joe over at Wizards Extreme click HERE.

Jeff: Obviously I have to ask you about the trade. Losing Arenas was kind of the obvious seeing how John Wall is a rising, young star. Likes, dislikes and how does if impact the Wizards season?

Joe: We all knew that the Gilbert Arenas - Washington Wizards marriage was coming to an end, but its another thing to actually finally see it come true. I think at first a lot of Wizards fans were torn, but understood it had to be done, and then you have those that were happy to see him leave. Our website was dominated by those wanting Arenas gone while those of us who cover the team, namely Asad and Matt Naqvi as well as myself were left to think of what was Bullets/Wizards basketball before Gilbert got here, what we had while he was tearing up the league, and now what we are left with.

Speaking for myself and not for the whole, I’m actually at this point indifferent to the trade. You basically traded two former max players whose skills have declined so much since they signed their respective deals that they are now solely looked at as contractual numbers instead of value they can bring to their new teams. When the first question a fanbase asks upon the arrival of a new team member is “when does his contract come off the books”, I think you can get a solid understanding that we’re not looking to get a whole hell of a lot out of our newest Wizard, Rashard Lewis.

I wish Gilbert the best of luck and an injury free career, will remember him for the great plays he made, and at the end of the day hope the Magic destroy the Heat.

As far as the impact on the Wizards, this accelerates the rebuild process. Our young guys, namely, Nick Young, is going to now have the chance to play starter minutes and show what he’s got as evidence by his 22.17 ppg average since Arenas departed. We are all now looking forward to getting Wall healthy and on the court with Young to see what kind of chemistry these two athletic freaks can put together.

Aside from the trade, seems there is some internal dysfunction with the Wizards' JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche getting into a scuffle at a Washington D.C. night spot. What is the latest on this?

Dysfunction seems to be a commonality between all the DC pro sports teams but the Wizards don’t come close to what the Redskins show the world on a season by season basis. I’m not going to sugarcoat this and say there is no friction and all is hunky dory in the locker room but especially with the departure of Arenas, this is the most cohesive I’ve seen this Wizards team since we began covering them this time last year.

As for the said altercation between McGee and Blatche, we really can only go on what we’re told by the team and what we’ve heard. According to Michael Lee, the Wizards beat reporter for the Washington Post, witnesses have said that the players were screaming expletives at each other, but two league sources added that Blatche and McGee also exchanged several punches at the Shadow Room in Northwest Washington.

Early Saturday, a Wizards spokesman released a statement late Friday that read, "The team looked into the matter earlier today and determined it was simply a disagreement between teammates."

According to one source, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not at liberty to speak on behalf of the team, teammate Al Thornton tried to step in and separate Blatche and McGee but was punched by a club bouncer. No arrests were made and no one was injured.

However, late Saturday night, Wizards GM, Ernie Grunfeld suspended Blatche and McGee for the game against the Spurs with the following explanation…

“After further investigation into an incident on Thursday night, we concluded that Andray and JaVale conducted themselves in an unprofessional manner,” said Grunfeld.  “As a result, both players will be suspended for tomorrow’s game at San Antonio.”

That being said, what you should also know about the not so Big 3 of Blatche, Young and McGee is that they have all been together for a few years now and any scuffling or altercations at this point could just be the result of having to go through another losing season, mounting frustration and the realization that the two bigs have taken a step backwards in regards to their career progress.

For now, I’d rather concentrate on all things basketball, you know the things that happen on the court instead of the crap that happens off of it. If people want to talk about McGee and Blatche and their off the court antics I’d rather remember this video that was shot a few years back called “The Commercial”.

The Wizards have had a less-than-stellar month of December. What can you pin-point is the issue with this team?

Less than stellar would be one way to describe it, Jekyll and Hyde would be another way to talk about this season to date. Pin pointing one issue would not come close to addressing the issues with the Washington Wizards. We can start with the fact that our #1 pick and star in the making - John Wall has missed 12 games to date with all sorts of nagging injuries, some even apparently mis-diagnosed. Other issues would be lack of focus, lack of energy, inability to play a full 48 minutes, and I believe more than anything else I would have to say, this team is extremely young and still figuring out how to play together.

When Wall gets back, I believe we will see a more consistently competitive team but with the same game results. This team is in complete rebuild mode and if done properly, that is a process which takes a few years and a little bit of draft luck to accomplish.

Let's talk about the game tonight. The Spurs have been the hottest team in the NBA. What would be your game-plan for the Wizards tonight in San Antonio?

Outside of a Christmas miracle, I don’t see the Wizards breaking their 0 for 13 losing streak on the road in San Antonio tonight. The Spurs have won the last nine overall games against the Wizards and Washington hasn’t won in San Antonio since a 99-89 victory Dec. 11, 1999, having lost their last 10 visits there.  Not exactly a recipe for success.

Since we are talking about a team (Spurs) who has only lost 4 times in nearly 30 games, the Wizards only game plan whether Wall plays or not should be to compete hard, keep the Spurs off the boards and hope that Duncan, Parker and Ginobili have off nights. Luckily, the Wizards have a tendency to play up to competition so we will all be hoping for Washington to at least make the game competitive. Rashard Lewis cannot have another 0 for 5 night from the 3pt line, Hilton Armstrong will have to have the game of his life, rookies Kevin Seraphin and Trevor Booker will have to contribute big on the boards as well as on defense and Young will have to continue his recent scoring streak.

Which matchup tonight would you tell Spurs and Wizards fans to watch for?

The two matchups we’ll be looking for as the keys to the game would have to be Nick Young on Manu Ginobili and whoever has the assignment of Tim Duncan. Young is going to get his points, what will determine success with this matchup will be how good his defense is on Ginobili, who can pretty much get an open shot and to the basket when he wants.

The matchup of the Wizards bigs and Duncan won’t be a matter of Washington stopping Duncan, because they have no one in the front court that can, but more so how much Duncan can be contained. Again, Wizards fans will be grasping in hopes of a win but these two matchups will go a long way towards determining how close this game will be.

What's your prediction for tonight's contest?

Prediction for the evening will be a Wizards loss. I believe in light of the latest off court issue to hit Washington, the Wizards will come out flat in the first and second quarters, they’ll try to get back in the game in the second half and will ultimately lose in a blowout, 107-88. As I stated before, I don’t see Washington breaking its road losing streak, especially to a team like the Spurs coming off an embarrassing loss to the Magic 3 nights before.

The San Antonio Spurs will face a depleted Washington Wizards team tomorrow in San Antonio as JaVale McGee and Andray Blatche have been suspended by the team due to an altercation between the two players:

A Wizards spokesperson said on Friday that it was "simply a disagreement between teammates," but a day later, President Ernie Grunfeld determined that the dispute went much deeper. "After further investigation into an incident on Thursday night, we concluded that Andray and JaVale conducted themselves in an unprofessional manner. As a result, both players will be suspended for tomorrow's game at San Antonio," Grunfeld said in a statement. (source washingtonpost.com)

The incident referred to occurred Friday night:

Multiple league sources have confirmed that teammates Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee were involved in an altercation outside an area club early Friday morning.

Witnesses have said that the players were screaming expletives at each other, but two league sources added that Blatche and McGee also exchanged several punches at the Shadow Room in Northwest Washington.

A Wizards spokesman released a statement late Friday that read, "The team looked into the matter earlier today and determined it was simply a disagreement between teammates." (source washingtonpost.com)

This will help the Spurs seeing how both Blatche and McGee present issues for the Spurs offensively and defensively. Now the Spurs should not be complacent and not play down to the Wizards.

The entire staff at Project Spurs and the Spurscast wishes all our loyal readers and listeners a very merry Christmas. We appreciate you coming back here for the best San Antonio Spurs coverage on the Internet.

Here is a treat for you on Christmas, how about a 1989 video of Sean Elliott, David Robinson and Zarko Paspalj singing "Jingle Bells." Enjoy and merry Christmas.

• Want to win a pair of free tickets to a San Antonio Spurs home game next month? Of course you do! All you have to do it follow @projectspurstiq on Twitter to enter. Easy huh?

• The Dallas Mavericks are right on the San Antonio Spurs' heels in the Southwest Division and though the Spurs lost to the Orlando Magic yesterday, the Mavericks are still trailing the Spurs by 1 1/2 games. 

Here is what Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle and guard Jason Terry had to say on the Spurs' season so far:

"The West is tough,'' Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "This division again is back to being one of the toughest in all of sports.

"The Spurs are having a great year. They’re going to continue to be good.''

And of course Terry had some words about the Spurs which might ruffle the feathers of Spurs fans:

"The only score I'm just focused on is San Antonio, and they finally lost (Thursday) night,'' Terry said. "I'm definitely looking at all the teams in the West, but the only team we're trying to catch is them, so I'm always watching them.

"They're having a phenomenal year, and there's about three or four teams having a good year to this point. But the key is can you maintain it, can you continue to stay focused, and can you get better?''

"A couple of those teams are going to peak out,'' Terry said. "I'm going to tell you right now, it's not going to be the Mavericks.''

Though many feel the Spurs' biggest competition is the Los Angeles Lakers, the Mavericks do present a huge concern for the Spurs. They have beaten the Spurs this season and will present a threat all season long.

However, let's hope Terry keeps looking up at the Spurs in the division.

• The Spurs took a beating last night against the Orlando Magic and winning streak came to a halt. To add insult to injury, check out this video of Spurs' guard Chris Quinn getting hit in the head by the basketball by Magic center Dwight Howard:

• The Spurs face the Washington Wizards this Sunday but it seems the Wizards are having some internal turmoil. Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee reportedly got into an altercation:

Multiple league sources have confirmed that teammates Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee were involved in an altercation outside an area club early Friday
morning.

Witnesses have said that the players were screaming expletives at each other, but two league sources added that Blatche and McGee also exchanged several punches at the Shadow Room in Northwest Washington.

A Wizards spokesman released a statement late Friday that read, "The team looked into the matter earlier today and determined it was simply a disagreement between teammates." (source washingtonpost.com)

A little Wizards dysfunction could be used to the Spurs benefit to get the team back on the winning track after losing badly to the Magic.

• Reigning Black discusses the Spurs' big problem...literally. Check it out. 

• Want to win a pair of free tickets to a San Antonio Spurs home game next month? Of course you do! All you have to do it follow @projectspurstiq on Twitter to enter. Easy huh?

• San Antonio Spurs' coach Gregg Popovich spoke on the recent trade between the Orlando Magic and the Phoenix Suns and he thinks it was a solid trade for the Magic:

• The Spurs and Magic faced off tonight and Tim Duncan and Dwight Howard battled it out once again. However, Bryan Harvey of thefastertimes.com, says the Magic could have learned a few lessons from the Spurs especially Howard:

But the grains of sand that should be slipping through Tim Duncan’s decrepit finger tips and landing in the jovial palms of Dwight Howard are instead defying gravity, making Duncan appear like a wizard juggling the cosmos (insert Manu Ginobili).

This meeting of big men should be an abdication of a thrown, of a title, of a crown, but  instead, this meeting is another history lesson for the young Dwight Howard and the franchise that rests its hopes on his shoulders.  The lesson: windows never shut as easily as the press’ headlines, Vince Carter’s disinterest, Amar’e Stoudemire’s rise, or LeBron James’ virtuosity may lead us to believe. There is always hope, and because of that, a franchise should never panic.

• Our very own Mike De Leon participated in a Q&A with our fellow NBA Bloguin blogger Jeff Fox at Hoops Manifesto and when it came to the question of NBA point guards, Mike made a fantastic argument why Tony Parker is the best point guard to lead a team:

I'm going to make kind of a homer pick here, but aside from last season when he was fighting nagging injuries, Tony Parker has been one of the better and more underrated point guards the last six years. While he doesn't have the crazy assist and steal numbers, he has three rings and a Finals MVP and there's no arguing that. Ask Steve Nash how hard it is to guard him. He's as fast as any of the other point guards, he can put his team on his back when they need it and his assist number are improving every year, so he'd be my choice. Rajon Rondo, Derrick Rose and Deron Williams would also get some consideration.

• Express News' Tim Griffin discusses the Spurs' zone defense and how handy it is.

• Spurs' guard Gary Neal had a fantastic performance off the bench (22 points) in the Spurs' victory against the Denver Nuggets last night. Here is what Neal had to say on his shot-selection:

• And what did coach Popovich have to say about Neal's performance against the Nuggets?

(videos courtesy of woai.com)