According to ESPN, Nuggets forward Carmelo Anthony will not play tonight.

Anthony will miss Denver's game Wednesday night in San Antonio following a death in his family.

The team announced the news Wednesday morning. Nuggets general manager Masai Ujiri said in a release that the organization supports Anthony "during this difficult time for him and his family."

With Anthony out, look for J.R. Smith to possibly start at small forward.

Christmas is fast approaching and some of you may not have picked up a gift for someone on your list. Well if they are a die-hard San Antonio Spurs fan why not give them the gift of tickets to either tonight's game against the Denver Nuggets or upcoming games against the Orlando Magic and the Washington Wizards.

Tonight's game against the Nuggets should be a great one. The last time these two teams met, the Nuggets were a depleted team. Chauncey Billups, Kenyon Martin and Chris Andersen were out with injuries, and it still took a Manu Ginobili basket and him picking up the offensive-foul on Carmelo Anthony to seal the win for the Spurs. Now that Denver is fully healthy, it might be an all out battle tonight in the AT&T Center.

For tickets to tonight's game click HERE. For tomorrow's game against Orlando click HERE and for Sunday's home-game versus Washington click HERE.Remember to follow @ProjectSpursTiq on Twitter for deals and updates and to enter next month's Spurs tickets giveaway.

Milwaukee Bucks' center Andrew Bogut weighed in on which team he feels is the most impressive and let's just say he scored some major points with San Antonio Spurs' fans:

The Bucks are a good team to ask. They’ve played Utah, Denver, Orlando, Miami, Dallas and San Antonio this month. Keyon Dooling still gives the nod to the Lakers because of their depth and their status as reigning champions, but Andrew Bogut says the San Antonio Spurs are the most impressive team they’ve faced so far.

“[The Spurs] have a unique system, where they really spread the scoring load,” Bogut said. “Then at the end of the game they’ve got Ginobili. I think they’re playing real well. That was tough for us. ... They’re going to be a tough matchup in the playoffs.”  (source ESPN.com)

Bogut would know first-hand about the Spurs being a tough team. In the last meeting between the Spurs and the Bucks it took a Ginoibili last-second shot to seal the victory for San Antonio.

Now will someone please tell Dooling he might want to reconsider his pick.

SPURS:

• Congratulations to Roxanne Alvarez (aka @simmonslover on Twitter) for winning two free tickets courtesy of tiqiq.com and Project Spurs to tomorrow's San Antonio Spurs-Denver Nuggets game. However, do not fret as we will be giving out another pair of free tickets to a Spurs home game next month. All you have to do it follow @projectspurstiq on Twitter to enter. Easy huh?

• The San Antonio Spurs will face a healthier Denver Nuggets team as Kenyon Martin, Chauncey Billups and Chris Andersen will return to action. This should be an exciting game seeing how the last time these two team faced off it took Manu Ginobili drawing the offensive foul after nailing the winning shot to secure the victory for the Spurs.

• The Spurs beat the Phoenix Suns last night, albeit a depleted Suns team with their recent trade to acquire Marcin Gortat, Vince Carter and Mikael Pietrus from the Orlando Magic, and as one scout pointed out, the moves makes them just like the Spurs:

“Well, it looks like they (Suns) are trying to change the culture,” the scout said. “I suppose they look at this as making them tougher. But I think that’s kind of interesting. The (San Antonio) Spurs are pretty tough, right?”

We’ll answer that one in the affirmative.

“The Suns swept the Spurs a few months ago,” the scout pointed out. “Swept them. Does that means the Spurs weren’t tough last spring, but are now? Has that much changed in terms of what people say is toughness?

As they say, imitation is the best form of flattery.

• How efficient are the Spurs? Well according to the Huffington Post the Miami Heat are but the Spurs could lead the NBA in efficiency:

Who are the least efficiently run teams in basketball (i.e. the teams who spend the most wastefully above the luxury tax threshold)?

The analysis relied on efficiency differential, since this projects future success (or failure) better than current won-loss records. Still one might be interested to know... if we project wins from current won-loss records, then the San Antonio Spurs -- with a cost per win of $0.931 million -- lead the NBA.

• Express News' Tim Griffin hands out his Spurs first-third report card on the team. How did they do? Find out HERE.

• Spurs' gaurd Gary Neal had a fantastic game against the Phoenix Suns scoring 22 points off the bench in a 118-110 victory. Here is what Spurs' coach Gregg Popovich had to say about Neal's performance:

(video courtesy of woai.com)

Hoy estaremos repasando los últimos juegos, que digo juegos, victorias!…de la semana de los Spurs.

Listos? Ahí les va! Definitivamente hemos tenido un victorioso comienzo ya que los Spurs llevan ganados 24 juegos y tan solo 3 derrotas.  Es bastante impresionante el hecho de que los Spurs sea el equipo que mas victorias lleva en lo que va del año.  Eso muestra la preparación y sobre todo el empeño que han estado poniendo. Realmente veo altas posibilidades de que salgamos campeones esta temporada.

En fin amigos, comenzamos con el juego de la semana pasada, donde se enfrentaron los Spurs contra los Golden State Warriors el miércoles 8 de Diciembre. Este juego realmente, en mi opinión fue lo que se esperaba. Los Spurs mostraron ser los campeones que siempre han sido anotando 29 puntos en el primer cuarto mientras los Warriors tan solo 19. Lamentablemente para los Warriors, ellos jamas lograron recuperarse ya que finalmente fueron derrotados 111-94, fue una diferencia bastante grande de 17 puntos. Para este juego los 3 mayores contribuyentes de canastas por parte de los Spurs fue Tony Parker con 19, George Hill con 17, Dejuan Blair con 15. En asistencias los mayores contribuidores fueron Tony Parker con 9 y Manu Ginobili con 8. Y la buena racha no termina ahí porque como testigos de los últimos juegos sabemos que los Spurs vienen enérgicos esta temporada.

El jueves de la semana pasada los Spurs jugaron contra los Atlanta Hawks, de nuevo, para los Spurs, otro juego facilito, ya que igual que con los Warriors en el primer cuarto llevaron la delantera, justo a medio tiempo están empatados, pero agarrense por que los Spurs vienen bravos. Aun que los Hawks pusieron de su parte para intentar derrotar a los Spurs, su empeño fue en vano, finalmente una vez mas los Spurs salen victoriosos, ganando 108 a 92, por una diferencia de 16 puntos.

Y el siguiente domingo de ese juego, que fue el 12 de diciembre, los Spurs salieron ganando nuevamente en su confrontación contra los Trail Blazers de Portland. Este juego comenzó tempranito, durante la tarde en el AT&T center. Para este juego quien anoto mas canastas fue George Hill ya que contribuyo con un impresionante puntuaje de 22 puntos. Quien le siguió el paso fue Manu Ginobili con 18 puntos, y Tony Parker con 14 puntos y 6 asistencias. Terminando el juego a favor de los Spurs 78-95.

Quien nos dejo con la piel erizada y llenos de emoción justo a final de juego fue Manu Ginobili el pasado miércoles 15 de diciembre en el juego contra los Milwaukee Bucks. El juego se mantuvo bastante emocionante, ya que aunque los Spurs llevaron la delantera durante la mayor parte del juego, los Milwaukee Bucks mostraban ser persistentes en intentar ganarnos. Finalmente a unos segundos del final del juego quedamos empatados y fue durante el ultimo segundo de juego que mete Ginobili una canasta así logrando desempatar el puntuaje entre ambos equipos y quedando los Spurs como campeones 90-92.

Y tambien se enfrentaron los Spurs con los Nuggets de Denver el pasado jueves, 16 diciembre. Aunque el juego no fue en tierras San Antonianas, esto no fue obstáculo para que los Spurs derrotaran a los Nuggets. Claramente se vio durante el primer cuarto que los Nuggets venían determinados a ganarnos, ya que durante el primer cuarto nos llevaron la delantera en puntuaje de 37-28. Pero finalmente los Spurs demostraron estar demasiado preparados ganando este emocionante juego 113-112. Nuestro mas grande contribuidor para este juego fue Tim Duncan con un grande total de 28 puntos contribuidos. Tony Parker le siguió con 24 puntos y un total de 9 asistencias y Manu Ginobili con 16 puntos.

Finalmente los Spurs una vez mas salen victoriosos contra los Grizzlies de Memphis ganando 112 a 106 en tiempo extra y contra los Suns de Phoenix, ganando 118 a 110. Tony Parker le siguió con 37 puntos contra Memphis y gano el premio jugador de la semana en la NBA. Felicidades Tony! Les deseamos muchísima suerte a los Spurs de San Antonio, aun que parece ser que no la necesitan con lo preparados que demuestran estar. También de parte de la familia de Projects Spurs les deseamos una Feliz Navidad y un Prospero Año Nuevo!

Dominique Archie, Lance Thomas, Carldell "Squeaky" Johnson, Michael Joiner and assistant coaches Taylor Jenkins and Alex Lloyd of the Austin Toros (the San Antonio Spurs D-League affiliate) gave Project Spurs and Toros Nation their Christmas wishes and what they want to see under the Christmas tree this weekend. Enjoy!

The San Antonio Spurs won their 9th game in a row, beating the Phoenix Suns 118-110. The Suns played short-handed again following their blockbuster trade with Orlando Magic over the weekend.

Coach Alvin Gentry used just eight players against the Spurs, a night after an impressive victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Spurs used their depth to their advantage and remains on top of the NBA standings with a 24-3 record. 

What are the numbers that stood out in this Spurs' recent win? Let's find out!

80 - The Spurs had a huge advantage on free throw attempts and they capitalized on it, making 24-30 (80%) of their foul shots. The Suns connected on 12-16 (75%) of their free throws.

53.5 - The Suns had a good shooting night overall as they hit 46-86 (53.5%) of their shots from the floor. The Spurs weren't that bad either making 43-89 (48.3%) of their field goals.

43 - San Antonio controlled the boards, out rebounding the Suns 43-35. 

40 - The Spurs outscored the Suns 40-24 in the third quarter to turn a close game into a blowout. 

27 - Both teams were atrocious from the 3-point line, the Spurs made just 8-29 (27.6%) of their three pointers while the Suns shot 6-22 (27.3%) from beyond the arc. Jared Dudley had a game-high 27 points for Phoenix. The Spurs had 27 assists for the game, the Suns had 23.

20-15 - The Suns had no answer for Tim Duncan who had a great all-around game. The Big Fundamental had 20 points, 15 boards, six assists, three blocks and two steals in 31 minutes of action.

14 - Chris Quinn scored five points, dished out three assists and grabbed a rebound in 15 minutes of playing time. The Spurs are now 14-0 when Quinn plays.  

9 - The Spurs had nine steals, three coming from Manu Ginobili. The Suns had five as a team.

8 - For the third straight game, Antonio McDyess was perfect from the floor. He is now 8-8 on field goal attempts since the game against the Denver Nuggets. He had four points and four rebounds for the Spurs.

6 - The Spurs had six players in double figures, including all their starters. Matt Bonner added six points and four rebounds off the bench.

0 - Richard Jefferson, Neal, Bonner and Quinn had zero turnovers for the entire game.

Rookie Watch: Gary Neal is taking advantage of George Hill's absence, He scored a team-high 22 points and had three rebounds, two assists and one steal in 31 minutes of action. Tiago Splitter received another DNP-CD (Did Not Play-Coach's Decision).

What's Next? The Spurs will conclude their three game homestand when they host the Denver Nuggets at the AT&T Center on Wednesday.

Follow Robby Lim on Twitter @RobbyLim21

• Want free San Antonio Spurs tickets? Of course you do! We here at Project Spurs are giving away free tickets to either the Denver Nuggets or Los Angeles Lakers game. How do you get them? Find out by clicking HERE.

• The San Antonio Spurs keep winning and all of the NBA and sports world is taking notice including Dallas Mavericks' Dirk Nowitzki:

With a record of 21-5 (13-4 at home), which included a 12-game win streak, much has gone right. Yet, the Mavs have yet to spend a day alone in first place in the Southwest Division, and after going 14-1 over their last 15 games, they’ve barely scratched a couple of games off the San Antonio Spurs’ lead.

“Not even that,” said Dirk Nowitzki, noting the Mavs have moved from three games back to two entering Monday's games. “They’re playing well. They’ve been fortunate on a couple games. Obviously, we’ve been following them and they snuck out in overtime again (Saturday night against Memphis). It almost seems like they’ve changed their philosophy around a little bit. They’re playing a lot more offense and they’re giving up more points.

“But, for some reason, the Spurs just always win. It doesn’t matter. They used to win 75-74 and now they win 110-109.” (source ESPN.com)

I'm sure this is music to Spurs fans' ears all across the globe.

• During this current winning streak, the Spurs have had some dramatic finishes against the Milwaukee Bucks and Denver Nuggets. In both games, the wins were secured because of Manu Ginobili's clutch play. Here is what Ginobili had to say about the Spurs' last-second victories:

• Express News' Tim Griffin has a food suggestion for the Spurs and if you are health conscious then you probably don't want to read this. Ahh forget it! You know you want to see what it is! Click HERE.

• American Express has partnered with the NBA after a five year absence and it's partly due to the Spurs:

Mark Tatum, the executive vice president for global marketing partnerships at the N.B.A, said, “The resurgence of the Knicks, the Heat, the Spurs, the Lakers, the Celtics: there are very exciting story lines and people want to be associated with the N.B.A. right now.” (source nytimes.com)

• The Spurs continue to give back to the San Antonio community this time by donating a portion of the tickets sales for the upcoming game against the Mavericks to San Antonio libraries: