The defending champion Dallas Mavericks haven't exactly been awesome out of the gates. The 
San Antonio Spurs' main rival is 9-7, which is good for second in the Southwest but barely gets them in the playoffs as the eight seed. They're also only three and a half games out of first place in the West so let's not overstate the problems
Now it looks like Dirk isn't feeling so great. ESPN Dallas' Jeff Caplan reported Thursday that Dirk is having trouble bending his knees.
"I’m having trouble bending my knees," said Nowitzki, who has been wearing a protective sleeve over the knee, the same one he sprained and missed nine games last season. "I’ve just got to get my legs stronger, get my base back. I’ve got to use my legs in my shot and hopefully they’ll come back soon."
Caplan said he's having problems specifically with his right knee, which is the same knee he had problems with last year. Dirk added that his knee is better now than it was three weeks ago. I wouldn't read too much in to this Spurs fans. Dirk had a lot of problems with his knee last season and still almost single-handedly buried the Heat in the Finals, but it might mean he's going to miss some upcoming games if the knee doesn't improve more.
no commentsCoaches will always tell their players to stay involved in the game when they’re on the bench. Cheer your teammates on and provide moral support, it’s very beneficial. Well the Orlando Magic’s
If you look at the video (via BDL), you can see Q-Rich literally closing out on
Video: Q-Rich's voice box is a defensive stud from The Basketball Jones on Vimeo.
I’ve seen players yell and taunt from the bench, trying to screw up their opponents, it’s part of the game. But I’ve never seen a player actually act like he was trying to play defense from the bench, this is a new one for me. I’d love for this to start becoming a thing just for the comedic value, but in terms of the game, it seems a little wrong.
no commentsSan Antonio Spurs' Manu Ginobili may be frustrated over his injury and subsequent surgery to repair his fractured hand, but that doesn't mean his sense of humor is gone.
Manu recently shared a photo of his gnarly post-hand surgery scar and accepted the loss at any chance to be a hand model after his NBA career is over.
You know even if he didn't have the scar, his crooked fingers might have derailed any hand modeling jobs for Manu post-NBA.
Good to see Manu still has a sense of humor despite being away from the court. Now let's just hope he comes back to the court fully healthy and raring to go soon.
Case Briefing
The San Antonio Spurs (10-5) return home to face the Sacramento Kings (5-10) after the Spurs earned their first road win of the season against the Orlando Magic on Wednesday.
Tonight, a continued perfect home record (currently 9-0) can be achieved if the Spurs are able to defeat the Kings.
Case No. 16: Sacramento Kings
Record: 5-10 Road: 1-7
- Offensive production: The Kings average 90 points on offense, and shoot 39% from the floor per game.
- Defensive production (allowance): The Kings don’t play much defense as they allow their opponents to score 101 points per game. The Kings are ranked second to last in points allowed in the entire league. Their opponents shoot 48% from the field on average.
Last 10 games: 3-7
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There is at least one thing the San Antonio Spurs players and NBA fans have apparently agreed 
upon and that's that the Spurs are a team first organization. I say this because despite their early season success, no Spur is ranked higher than seventh in the latest returns in All-Star voting.
Spurs.com released the latest returns Thursday and it had Tim Duncan seventh in forward voting with 133,575 votes and Manu Ginobili is eighth in place for the guards with 79,821 votes. Tony Parker isn't even in the top 10 in guard voting. The Spurs will be in the midst of the Rodeo Road Trip when the All-Star game rolls around, so perhaps al of them being able to rest is the best outcome. There is a slight possibilty that coaches could again select Duncan is a back up center to Andrew Bynum who appears all but set to be the West's starting center. There's also a chance that if Tony Parker continues to play as well as he has, he may make it in as a reserve.
This woud be the first season since the 1996-97 campaign that no Spur made the All-Star team if neither of the above scenarios takes place.
Here's my question. If the Spurs continue to play like they are now, do Duncan or Parker deserve a reserve spot on the All-Star team?
Russell Westbrook's time has been mostly good, but there continue to be questions on whether he and Kevin Durant can co-exist. The Oklahoma City Thunder apparently don't care about those whispers. They've continued to build their team like the San Antonio Spurs did once upon a time by extending Russell Westbrook for the next five years.
Adrian Wojnarowski with Yahoo! Sports reported early Thursday afternoon that Westbrook had signed a five year, $80 million extension with Oklahoma City. The Thunder point guard is currently averaging 20 points, five assists and five rebounds a game. Those are great numbers across the board for any player not named LeBron James, but the assist totals are actually down from last two seasons where he averaged eight assists a game. History shows there's a decent chance those assist totals go up.
Aside from trading Westbrook, this was the only option for OKC and most likely the right one. At 23 years old, Westbrook has already been the second best player on a Western Conference finalist. The Thunder has the league's second best record, so why shake things up. Getting this extension done early ends any uncertainty about his future (for the next few years anyways) and I'm willing to bet will lead to better play.
What the GM Sam Presti has done in Oklahoma City is very impressive. He's definitely followed the Spurs mold of building your team through the draft (though OKC had much higher picks than San Antonio) and hitting on international talent (see: Ibaka, Serge). I still don't think Scott Brooks is the coach that gets them to the promised land, but if Durant, Westbrook and the growth of James Harden (his game, not his beard) have made the Thunder the scariest team in the Western Conference.
no commentsAny San Antonio Spurs fan who saw Los Angeles Lakers' Derek Fisher bury the game-winning 3-
pointer against the Dallas Mavericks on Monday probably had some painful flashbacks to the infamous shot that will forever be known as “.4” That shot still gives Spurs fans nightmares, and that may never change.
Fisher has hit a few clutch shots throughout his NBA career, but to him, he plays it off like it’s just part of the job.
“This is what I do,” said Fisher. “When opportunities like that present themselves, I’m confident in my abilities to step up and make the right play. Whether it’s making a shot or making or making a read to create something for someone else. [With] my experience and having played for this team for so many years and having been in so many big games, I feel I have a responsibility to the team to not be afraid to step up and make plays. And I’ve been fortunate in my career to come in on the positive side of some big plays.”
Fisher may not be putting up the stats that a starting NBA point guard should be. He’s getting up there in age and that’s to be expected, but you can’t change the heart of a winner. Fisher is always going to want to be that guy with the ball in his hands at the end of the game. He wants to be relied on to make that big play. Even if he’s shooting 0-13 in a game, with three-seconds left on the clock, he’ll tell you that the next one is going in, that’s just who he is.
It’s a truth that Spurs fans know all to well.
The San Antonio Spurs continue to ride out the loss of their star Manu Ginobili after he suffered a 
fractured hand earlier this season against Minnesota.
But as the team has been keeping their heads above water without "El Contusion," Ginobili is growing frustrated at not being able to set foot on the court.
"There's nothing positive about this injury and more so because of the five weeks out, especially with the season being short," Ginobili said.
"I would have preferred to be playing, gaining rhythm.
"If you have an injury that sees you miss three or four games, it's okay, but more than that it is a setback.
"You have to start with physical work, getting the rhythm, so it's not positive."
As a fierce competitor, Manu is surely losing patience on the road to recovery. As it has been said before, the Spurs go as Manu goes but rushing recovery would be do his and the team's disadvantage.
If the Spurs have been able to maintain winning ways, a fully recovered Manu will only make this team stronger for the season's stretch-run. Think about it, Manu will be healthy, and raring to go at the right time -- the run to the playoffs. The last thing the team needs is Manu coming back prematurely and he gets injured again.
As for the status on his injury, Ginobili says things are looking good.
"It's (the recovery) going well," Ginobili said, "just as planned.
"Twelve days have passed since the surgery and yesterday I had the stitches taken out.
"I'm slowly doing exercises, I'm feeling better, gaining mobility - but it has to heal.
"The estimated time of recovery is five to six weeks and it's been one and a half now so we need to be patient."
no commentsFinally the San Antonio Spurs were able to get their first road win of the season by defeating the Orlando Magic last night 85-83 in overtime.
It was a balanced attack with Tim Duncan looking as if he discovered the fountain of youth (17 points, 10 rebounds), Tony Parker steadying the Spurs (25 points) and Richard Jefferson shaking off his recent mini-slump (11 points).
But did YouTube sensation Jenna Marbles have some effect on the Spurs pulling out the victory? Maybe, if RJ had anything to do with it.
After the Spurs recent win at home over the Phoenix Suns, RJ stated he would show videos of Jenna Marbles to the squad to loosen them up on the road because, according to him, she has been the team's inspiration at home.
Listen to what RJ had to say (via woai.com) about her (last 30 seconds of video).
For San Antonio Spurs fans that miss former Spur Malik Rose in the broadcast booth and are 
wondering where he went off to, he’s now doing color commentary for the Philadelphia 76ers. He’s already become a pretty big hit too.
CSNPHILLY.com sat down with Malik to talk about his quirky on-air personality as well as how he’s enjoying his new gig. It’s definitely worth a read because you just never know what Malik is going to say next. He’s even inspired a Twitter hashtag up in Philadelphia, #S---MalikSays, for his references that make people stop and say, “Did he really just say that?”
Check out his response to throwing out an Animal House reference on the air.
“Oh, yeah, the fans loved that one. Some of those just kind of slip out. I don’t plan them. With me, I watch a lot of sitcoms and movies. I watch the Dave Chappelle show religiously – back when it was on and now I watch the re-runs. I grew up watching movies, especially comedies. I try to relate some of those funny lines to basketball. When you have a giant head the size of mine, I guess useless facts and quotes just stay in there. In Animal House, all the white kids take their girls to a black club, and some of the black guys come over and ask “excuse me, do you mind if we dance with your dates?” Even Turner drove the lane, so it just hit me – “excuse me, do you mind if I dance in your paint?” [Laughs].”
Obviously, living in Texas, the odds are unlikely that we’d ever get to hear Rose and his partner Marc Zumoff, but I think next time I’m in Philly, I may just have to check them out. Sounds like a couple hours of comedy with some basketball mixed in.
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