Spurs Forecast: March 8
The Spurs were impressive this last week in taking care of business in all three of their games—all of which were against Southwest Division teams. As we touched on, Tim Duncan ended up playing in both back-end games on Monday and again on Saturday. His presence definitely was a boost for this team. Overall this week appears to be a fairly light one as well but with Tony Parker out for the remainder of the regular season, the Spurs have yet another wrench thrown into their plan.
Monday, March 8, 2010 6:00 PM @ Cleveland Cavaliers (49-15)
The Spurs may have caught a break with rumors that King James may sit out another game on Monday. James has been banged up as of late and the Cavaliers have been hesitant to rest him because they’ve been rolling. Heading into Saturday’s Lebron-less performance, the Cavaliers had won nineteen of their last twenty-two. With the Lakers on a three-game losing streak, the Cavaliers appear to be even more likely to end the season with the league’s best record (securing home court should they reach the NBA Finals). With that in mind, it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see LBJ sit tonight against the Spurs. With or without Lebron, the Cavaliers will be thin on the frontline with J.J. Hickson and Anderson Varejao manning the middle. The Spurs will need to force feed Duncan, and the guard-play will need to step up with Parker out.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010 7:30 PM vs. New York Knicks (21-41)
This game should be a walk in the park. The Knicks are terrible and even after getting T-Mac, to describe this team as even scratching the cusp of mediocrity would be a misplaced compliment. The Knicks will be coming fresh off losses to a Bosh-less Toronto team and the offensive-juggernaut New Jersey Nets come into town on Wednesday. Realistically, the Spurs need to simply play their game. The Knicks are going to want to get out in transition and won’t be disciplined enough to play defense longer than 10-12 seconds into the shot-clock. Moreover, once the Spurs get them down, they need to put them away so they can rest their rotation guys and not have to worry about a comeback.
Friday, March 12, 2010 7:00 PM @ Minnesota Timberwolves (14-49)
The Wolves have dropped eleven of their last twelve games and with the trio of Dallas, Denver, and San Antonio on the docket this week, they very well could drop their next three. The Wolves have fallen victim to ‘having a lot of talent’. With a new coach in Kurt Rambis and so many young players, Rambis has struggled with how to allocate the playing time this year. Guys have been shuffled in and out of the starting line-up or the rotation all together. Furthermore, guys are just trying to get a feel for his system and to no one’s surprise all of these variables have led to a 14-win season thus far. This should be another notch in the win column for the Spurs.
Saturday, March 13, 2010 7:30 PM vs. Los Angeles Clippers (25-38)
Of all the games this week, this may be the one that makes me the most nervous. At least with the Cavaliers, you know what you’re going to get. The Clippers, on the other hand, could come out and play great or come out and lay an egg on any given night. I do remain cautiously optimistic for a couple of reasons. With the departure of Marcus Camby and Al Thornton, clearly this team is in a mode where their future is the top priority and the Spurs, top-to-bottom are clearly a better team. Moreover, the Clippers have a brutal four-game road trip this week as they go to Orlando, Miami, Charlotte, and finally San Antonio. The Spurs ought to be able to contain a jet-lagged and inferior Clippers team coming into the AT&T Center on a back-end of a back-to-back themselves.
Prediction: 3-1
The Spurs will likely cough up a game this week most likely to either the Cavaliers on Monday or the Clippers on Saturday’s back-end. If King James sits out Monday, we could see this San Antonio Spurs team reel off another undefeated week, their second in a row. If this were to happen, the Spurs would be sitting pretty with a 40-24 record heading with 18 games remaining. As we all know, they could use every win they can get as they hit this brutal home stretch.
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