Spurs continue early season dominance

With their 101-74 victory over the Thunder to start the New Year, the Spurs extended their NBA best record to 29-4.  While the chatter around the NBA continues to revolve around LeBron and the Heat, the Celtics and Lakers, the Spurs have positioned themselves as a top contender to knock off the Lakers and win their 5th NBA Championsip since 1999.  Since a 90-85 loss to the Clippers to begin December, the Spurs have won 14 of 15, with the one loss coming against the Magic on the 23rd, a game which was their third in four nights.

While the Spurs have yet to play the big boys of the Eastern Conference (Boston and Miami), the past week has seen them rout the defending champion Lakers, their Texas rivals the Mavs and tonight's impressive showing against the up and coming Thunder.  The surprise this year with the Spurs is that they have been doing it on the offensive end.  They are currently fifth in the league in scoring (105.7 ppg) and fourth in assists (23.7).  If the Spurs finish the season averaging over 100 ppg, it would mark the first time the team has accomplished this since the 1995-96 season.

Defensively is were the Spurs have slipped this year in terms of their championship seasons.  This year, they rank 13th in points allowed (97.4 ppg) and 16th in field goal percentage against (.457%).  Since 1999, the Spurs have never given up more than 96.3 ppg (last season).  However, past champions have showed you don't exactly need a top notch defense (2009 Lakers 13th in points allowed, 2006 Heat 11th in point allowed) to win it all.

The Spurs roster is as complete a roster as there is in the NBA.  With every team now clamoring to mimic the Big Threes of Boston and Miami, people forget the Big Three the Spurs contain (Manu, Parker and Duncan).  Manu is currently putting up his second highest ppg (19) and assists average (4.8). Parker is currently averaging 7 assists per game, his highest ever.  As for The Big Fundamentals, despite averaging a career low 13.3 ppg, the important number in Duncan's stat line this season is 29, as in his minutes per game.  With Duncan playing fewer minutes this year, he should be fresh for a long playoff run.  Richard Jefferson seems more  comfortable in his second year in San Antonio, shooting 48% from the floor, including 43% from behind the arc.  DeJuan Blair, Antonio McDyess and Tiago Splitter provide the team with big bodies who can bang with the bigs down low and Ime Udoka provides them with a Bruce Bowen type defender.  Finally, George Hill can add even more offensive power off the bench.  All in all, it adds up to a Spurs team that all team thinking of winning a championship this year need to be worried about.