Spurs Crush Bobcats and Hornets, But Bigger Threats Loom

Tuesday night marked the halfway point of the NBA season, and our (nearly) local team marked the occasion by absolutely obliterating the Charlotte Bobcats 104-76. It doesn't look so bad on paper, but the Spurs were winning so handily that they played their bench for nearly the entire second half. Even Spurs 12th man (and Napoleon Dynamite lookalike) Sean Marks had 9 points. It looked like a bad high school game.

With this and another blowout 84-68 win last night against New Orleans/Oklahoma City (how unwieldy is that?), you'd be forgiven for thinking the the Spurs are in great shape. But it may not be so. The team is not only missing two key players (Manu Ginobili and Robert Horry) due to injury, but also begins an extended road trip next week due to the San Antonio Rodeo (goodbye, Duncan, hello Big and Rich! Woot!).

Just up I-35, the Dallas Mavericks are also making like difficult for San Antonio. Under the new(ish) tenure of former Spur Avery Johnson, the Mavs have started playing the defense they'd pretty much given up on for the past decade and look all the better for it. The result is a stellar 31-10 record despite the loss of star player Michael Finley to, yep, the Spurs due to salary cap rule changes.

Given that NBA League Pass is free this week on digital cable, now's a great time for casual fans to start watching, as the intensity will only rachet up in the coming weeks. Well, that and the fact that Ron Artest will probably judo chop someone soon (we hope it's Kobe).