With injuries to Tony Parker and George Hill, it seems the point-guard position is cursed for the Spurs this season.

However, in the eyes of Tim Duncan, this presents a golden opportunity for him to finally play the point-guard position after 12 years with the Spurs.

"I've been willing to play point guard for about 12 years now. I might finally get my chance."

And they say Duncan has no personality.

(photo by CH/Project Spurs)

After the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Los Angeles Lakers, Lakers coach Phil Jackson targeted the refs in his post-game remarks saying they were against them.

Earlier today, Project Spurs posted some of Jackson's post-game remarks but he also did have this gem to add about the refs and Bennett Salvatore.

"You never know with a referee," Jackson said. "You go over and talk to him, he may not have wanted anybody to talk to him at that point. It didn't look like Kobe berated him at all, but you guys probably had a better television view than I had at that end of the court."

Jackson added: "It didn't look like he was berating him or anything," Jackson said. "But, with Bennett you don't know what you're going to get."

Well the NBA has fined Jackson $35, 000.00 for criticizing the refs.

Knowing Phil, he will gladly pay this fine if it means getting into the minds of the refs and the Spurs should these two teams meet up in the NBA post-season.

With the Lakers and Spurs finishing the season 2-2 in head-to-head matchups, once again I venture into enemy territory and speak with Lakers blogger and friend of Project Spurs, Rey Moralde, of The No Look Pass.

Here we talk about the Spurs recent win over the Lakers, Phil Jackson's antics, are the Lakers worried about the Spurs if they meet in the first round and much more including a discussion on Katharine McPhee versus Olivia Munn.
______________________________________________________________________________

Jeff: Suck on that LA!

Rey: It's a big win by San Antonio. It's just... hard for me to be concerned about the Lakers. I don't know what to think of them.

Jeff: Sure you guys didn't have Bynum but we didn't have Tony Parker and lost George Hill and still got the W.
Rey: As I always say... the Spurs will never die.

Jeff: Speaking of never dieing, Manu torched the Lakers. Dropped 32. Uh I thought Ron Artest was a perimeter defender?
Rey: He let the technical get into his head. Really threw him off. He should know better.

Jeff: Oh I see you are now sounding like Phil Jackson. Nice job Rey!
Rey: Oh, give me a break. Do you see me blaming the referees?

Jeff: Yea WTF? Phillip not see the box score?
Rey: It's hard to blame the refs when you get blown out of the building. And the game was still close at the beginning of the fourth quarter.

Jeff: Speaking of box score, are the Lakers just a 5 man team? Spurs bench outscored the Lakers bench 20-4. 4 points! Really?
Rey: The bench can do better. If AND when Bynum comes back, Lamar Odom should shore up that bench. Plus I'm not as concerned about the bench, really, as they have been pretty good as of late.

Jeff: Recently Spurs coach Pop and Lakers coach "crybaby" errrrrrr I mean Phil been "complimenting" each others squads. Philsaid he is worried about the Spurs and Pop said he is trying to avoid the Lakers. If they do meet in the opening round, I still feel Lakers will come out on top.
Rey: I do, too... but dammit, it's hard to gauge their performance. They won't be playing for much more in the next few games. I'm just waiting for the playoffs to start. At L.A.'s best, they're still the favorites in the West.

Jeff: I called Phillip a "crybaby" and you do know why right?
Rey: You mentioned the refs. Any other reason?

Jeff: Blaming the refs AGAIN? Seriously Phil. Will he give some cred to the Spurs?
Rey: Phil Jackson is concerned. We all know he throws out that psychological warfare.

Jeff: As much as I say the Lakers will win a series vs the Spurs, I still have the Spurs making it interesting because of the stronger bench and better backcourt. If the Spurs were to upset the Lakers would you be surprised?
Rey: No. It's the Spurs. I know what they're capable of. Maybe if it was... say... the Thunder upsetting the Lakers, then I'd be surprised. But come on, look at those string of victories the Spurs have: Cleveland, Boston, Orlando, Lakers...

Jeff: You forget the fail loss to the Nets. It's shit like that which makes me worried about the Spurs team.
Rey: Eh, every team has a bad day. The Lakers lost to the Clippers earlier this year, too.

Jeff: Spurs and Lakers went 2-2 this season. If its them both in the first round, will it be a war or a cake walk for either team?
Rey: It's a war. I can see it going seven.

Jeff: Know what else is a war? Katharine McPhee vs. Olivia Munn. McPhee is so the chick you can take home. Munn is down and can hang with you and the fellas.
Rey: I'll take Olivia Munn.

Jeff: Man I will take McPhee. Brunette version though. I think you are underestimating her hotness.
Rey: I probably am but I always wanted to play Street Fighter with Olivia Munn.
Jeff: It's win-win.

Rey: The Spurs, though... Ginobili is hot. Parker will be back. One-and-done? Or title contender?
Jeff: McPhee is so underrated. You guys are fools. But I might be one and done if I got her alone.
Rey: I'm guessing you're still not taking the Spurs seriously.

Jeff: Dammitt Rey! McPhee. She is clouding my train of thought
Rey: Hey, look here. I'm trying to do my part in this conversation. (Olivia Munn... Olivia Munn... Olivia Munn...)

Jeff: OK. Focus is back. Spurs are not a title contender. Even if by some miracle they get past LA, the Nuggs, Jazz and Mavs will be a problem.
Rey: And you don't think they can run through the West if they get past L.A. Beating L.A. would be a HUGE confidence-booster.
Jeff: Hell no. It would be a boost but the Spurs lack the front-court of the Nuggs, against the Jazz they got swept, and the Mavs additions of Caron Butler, and Bendan Haywood will be headaches for the Spurs.

Jeff: Rey. Take a look at this! BAM!

Rey: Okay... bottom line... you don't think Spurs are a title contender... I still do. And we both think the Lakers are still the faves... but I can't gauge them very well until the postseason starts. All right. Awesome. Here.

Jeff: (heading to men's room)
Rey: I don't think he's going there to flush the Spurs' chances of winning a title...

First Lakers' coach Phil Jackson admitted he is worried about the Spurs and now Spurs' coach Gregg Popovich reciprocates the feeling.

In the ESPN - Daily Dime, Pop openly admits he is trying to avoid the Lakers in the first round of the playoffs.

"The ones that say 'We don't care who we play,' they're full of baloney too, because we're all trying to hide from the Lakers," Popovich said. "I mean, really. 'Who do you want to play in the first round?' 'Oh, the Lakers'. What an idiot."

As I stated earlier today, I have to agree with Pop. Lakers pose a huge challenge for the Spurs mainly becuase of the Lakers' bigger front court and since the Spurs do not have a reliable perimeter defender to guard Kobe Bryant as in seasons past with Bruce Bowen.

Should the Spurs and Lakers meet in the first-round, the Spurs bench and the back-court of Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and George Hill, will have to play at a high level in a 7-game series to have a shot at upsetting the Lakers.

Speaking of Parker, Pop also mentioned he should be returning to the Spurs for the last two games of the regular season and gave a status on the recently injured George Hill. 

Popovich says the broken bone in Parker's right hand should be healed enough for him to return between the final two games of the regular season and the first two games of the playoffs, with the April 12 game against Minnesota as the target. He said Hill, who will have further tests on the ankle Monday, "is probably going to be out a while."

Lakers' coach Phil Jackson on the refs and Ginobili in the loss to the Spurs

In yesterday's game against the Lakers, Spurs' Manu Ginobili and Lakers' Ron Artest got tangled up a bit which led to both of them receiving technicals. Of course, this didn't sit well with Phil and he had the following to say on the refs, and Ginobili:

"Tonight they wouldn't let Ron play the way he played prior to [the technical-foul call]," Jackson said. "[Ginobili] could hook Ron; [Artest] didn't get what was going on and ended up getting too many fouls on him."

"The way we ended up the half I think turned the referees against us, and when you do that, that's an unfortunate thing," Jackson said. "Ron didn't back off and didn't read that official well enough to know you got to back off, you got to lighten the load, he's not going to take any more of that. Ginobili forced the issue and got the calls."

"On both the replays that we looked at, Ginobili hooks him," Jackson said. "He does the up-and-under move with the hook. Obviously the referees just didn't want the contact at that time. I told Ron at halftime, 'You got to back off when it's time to back off.' You just can't keep being persistent about that because they sent you a warning signal, and that signal was, 'Back off.' We ended up giving them some momentum at the half and probably got the referees on the back end of our game."

Nice job Phil! No it wasn't anything the Spurs did.  It wasn't the fact the Spurs bench outscored your bench 20-4. I am sure the Lakers' loss to the Spurs had nothing to do with getting out rebounded by the Spurs 41-34, Ginobili scoring 32 points, or the Spurs outscoring the Lakers in the paint, 48-40.  It was all because of the refs!

In a recent interview with Dan Patrick of Sports Illustrated, Phil Jackson, coach of the Los Angeles Lakers, was asked about the Spurs heading into the playoffs.

DP: It seems like [San Antonio coach Gregg] Popovich is at his best this time of the year, when we're getting near the postseason. Is that the team you see in your rearview mirror and worry about?

PJ: Without a doubt.

First. I am caught off guard by this "respectful" comment from Phillip. Especially since Phil does not have such a glowing track record when it comes to shutting his mouth on his views on the Spurs. Spurs fans still hate the whole "asterisk" comment back in 1999.

Second. Is this more "mind games" with the Spurs? Spurs went 2-2 against the Lakers this season. In one game the Spurs lost a game despite Andrew Bynum not playing and a hurt Kobe Bryant. Blew a lead in the March 25th matchup in San Antonio where the Spurs couldn't buy a basket in the second half.

However, in the most recent win over the Lakers, the Spurs beat the Lakers 100-81. In that game the Spurs lost George Hill to an ankle injury in the second quarter and were still not playing without Tony Parker and still got the win.

In the end, should the Spurs face the Lakers in the first round, I am more than sure Phil is comfortable playing the Spurs in the first round. With Bynum in the lineup, and not to mention Pau Gasol and Lamar Odom, the Lakers are too big in the front court for the Spurs. This could be the undoing for the Spurs in the end.

After defeating the Orlando Magic, the Spurs next faced the Western Conference leading Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles.

With the Spurs regular season history of losing to the elite Western Conference teams, coming into this game against, it would have seemed the Spurs were in for a loss.

To recap the the game, I turned to three huge Spurs fans and fans of Project Spurs to help recap today's game against the Lakers via Twitter. So without further adieu, here is Conner, Carlos and Rita to breakdown the Spurs game Twitter style!

First Quarter recap by Conner aka spurtd21

At the end of the first quarter it was Lakers 24, Spurs 22.

Second Quarter recap by Carlos aka carlos_vnzla

At the half the Spurs were leading the Lakers, 48-40.

Third Quarter recap by Rita aka rita202109

After three quarters, the Spurs were leading the Lakers 67-59.

Fourth Quarter recap by Rita aka rita202109

Spurs win and seal a playoff birth for the 13th consecutive time! Final from Los Angeles, 100-81.

Notes:

• Bad news for the Spurs as George Hill injured his ankle in the second quarter after stepping on the foot of Lakers' Derek Fisher.  He did not play the rest of the game. X-Rays were negative but he did suffer a sprained ankle.
• Manu Ginobili scored 32 points in the victory against the Lakers.  He also picked up a technical foul when he and Ron Artest got tangled up on an in bound play.
• Tim Duncan scored 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds. Richard Jefferson scored 14 points.
• Spurs opened the second half of the game on an 11-4 run.
• Spurs shot 48.7% from the field, 38.9% from the three-point line, 79.2% from the free-throw line.
• Spurs committed 13 turnovers, outscored the Lakers 48-40 in the paint, and their largest lead was 19 points.
• Spurs bench outperformed the Lakers bench scoring 20 points while the Lakers bench scored four points.
• Spurs grabbed 41 rebounds while the Lakers grabbed 34.
• With the win, the Spurs record is now 47-29 and remain in the seventh spot in the Western Conference playoff standings.
• The Spurs have beaten the Los Angeles Lakers, Orlando Magic, Cleveland Cavaliers, Boston Celtics, and Oklahoma City Thunder. All playoff bound teams.
• The Spurs will next face the Sacramento Kings Tuesday in Sacramento.

The NBA pays these players a substantial amount of money to play at their healthiest and highest level of performance. Now it is on their own will to play in the summer for their country. I am including ALL NBA players, international or U.S. I am not against supporting your country, but should they start to add stipulations to their contracts if these players go off in the summer and get hurt? These franchises put out millions of dollars on these players and if they get hurt, why should they get paid for that season if they don' play? I know it is a sticky question, and my family and I have had many conversations over this, but I just wanted to get your opinion. - Becca

I've actually thought about this for quite some time. When Manu was injured and sat out a considerable amount of games a few years back, then decided to play internationally the next summer, a lot of people in and around San Antonio had a big problem with it.

For international players, the ultimate goal has always been winning Olympic gold for your country. Even now with many international players playing in the league, I'd guess plenty would say they'd pick an Olympic Gold Medal over an NBA Championship.

With Manu, I felt empathetic because you have to realize that he has a great amount of pride in his home country of Argentina, but at some point NBA Teams have to think of their own interests and how international play could affect their success.

Yao Ming is likely one of the better centers in the NBA, when he's playing. How right is it that he's available to play for the Chinese National Team while he's sat out most of the last two seasons with the Rockets while earning nearly $17 million per season.

So I really do think it's time the NBA and owners have stipulations for their players who choose to play internationally. Would Yao Ming be playing summers if that cushy $17 million were pro-rated. Whether or not the Player's Association would ever even consider it is another issue.

Have a question for the mailbag? Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or click "contact" above and one of our writers will be sure to discuss it in a future mailbag.