In my opinion, many analysts have missed the main reason that the Oklahoma City Thunder were able to cut into the Spurs lead last night. I don't think it was the "Hack a Splitter" and I don't think it was entirely due to the small ball lineup Scott Brooks went to. Rather, it's something that OKC's small ball team is able to do like no one else, and it has the potential to knock the Spurs' offense down to a mortal level.

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Here are the rules, (as plagiarized from SLC Dunk.)

• The thicker the arrow, the more a given team uses that type of play.
• The longer the arrow, and the more it invades into enemy territory, the bigger the comparative advantage between the two teams.

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Welcome to the Western Conference Finals. This is where the game begins. For most, it already ended, and for others, it began in round one. For the Spurs, the game begins now. This is the first series in which the Spurs will be tested. It's a little stressful, I know. Will the Spurs be ready to play at the required level after two seemingly easy sweeps and perhaps too much time off? I believe that while they will be rusty, they will win Game 1 with unexpected ease.

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I had a friend at the game. She wore Manu’s jersey into enemy territory. I was hoping for the best and believed this game would not be a close one; then the first quarter happened. Murphy’s Law was never intended to be this deliberate. Everything that could go wrong went; the Clippers sensed a suddenly stunned Spurs team and took full advantage. After 12 minutes, the Spurs were down 33-11.

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The San Antonio Spurs won their 13^th game in a row and put this series against the Utah Jazz in a stranglehold. No NBA team has ever come back from a 3-0 deficit so the Spurs are sitting pretty. A Game 3 that I feared would be hotly contested proved to be nothing more than a steady beat down. As we all are well aware of at this point, the Spurs are good. They are very, very good.

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The Spurs enter tonight's game with a 2-0 series lead, sky-high confidence, and all the momentum. It's a good thing because Utah is never hospitable to visitors. We can count on watching the most physical game of the series thus far. Since Utah was able to get away with rough play in San Antonio, we should expect them to get away with everything tonight in Salt Lake City. That's fine though. The Spurs will be ready to take full control of this series.

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[Editor's note: For the case AGAINST Tony's MVP candidacy, see SRJ34's post.]

The MVP debates have always been a strange one for me to follow. The subjectivity is what turns me off. So first, let's define MVP. It's a regular season award that should go to the Most Valuable Player on one of the best teams in the league. What is valued most in the NBA regular season? Well, wins. So it's only logical that the MVP of the best team should be the MVP of the entire league. He would be the Most Valuable player on the team with the most regular season value. With the field now narrowed, the discussion should become, ‘which player is most valuable to his team?' Without that player, what would the effect have been and how does that measure up as you compare potential MVP candidates from the best teams in the league? As you walk through my logic, I think the answer is an obvious one. Tony Parker should be the MVP of the league.

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The Spurs were down 96 to 90 with 5:20 remaining in the fourth quarter and I felt as if the Spurs were done. How many times have we seen this play out over the last several seasons? It's a meaningless game. Popovich decided to give Tim, Tony, and Manu the night off. With only that knowledge, you would have to assume that the Spurs were not going to win this one.

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The Spurs defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers Sunday night 114 to 98 to extend their win streak to seven. Gregg Popovich allowed Tim Duncan to dress, but kept him on the bench. It's becoming apparent that Popovich wants the one seed. He normally does not play the insurance card. Normally, if Pop decides to rest a player, that player is going to sit. In this game, he had Tim dressed so that if this game went poorly, he had Duncan available. Popovich managed this game very well. He played Tony and Manu for key stretches, but pulled them often to keep their minutes low; Manu scored a team high 20 points in his 22 minutes, and Tony only played 21.

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It is once again that time of year when Popovich will choose to play the Did Not Dress card as often as possible. In previous seasons, this annoyed me to no end. I felt as if the Spurs needed 20 things to go their way in order to have a chance at winning it all and the games that he seemingly threw away served to start us off 0 for 5. This year, however, my mindset has shifted. In my opinion, we are now the team to beat in the West. If you are with me so far, then logically, our seeding is insignificant as are our opponents. Rest and health are paramount to our future success. So I agree with Coach Pop for the first time when it comes to his fondness of sitting our Big Three. Let them rest up and simply be in position to pounce when the playoffs arrive.

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On the second game of a back to back, with tomorrow's game looming, the Spurs dominated the Lakers in a 112 to 91 victory. The Spurs came to play and the Lakers could not avoid being victimized. From the start, the Spurs' intensity was evident and it did not let up for 48 minutes. The Spurs played a complete game and when they do that, defeat is unfeasible.

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[Editor's Note: Matthew Tynan's recap will follow shortly. In the meanwhile, here is an opinion piece from Fred Silva to add to the discussion. -jrw]

Basketball at its core is a game of confidence. Confidence controls the momentum of the game; it controls the tone and when managed well, leads to offensive runs and defensive stops. Confidence leads to wins while the lack of confidence ends in defeat. It's the coach's job to manage the team's confidence throughout the game. The coach has tools at his disposal that allow him to manage confidence. He can call specific plays, he can call timely timeouts, he can change his lineup, and he can adjust his game-plan. I didn't see Gregg Popovich do any of the above in tonight's blowout loss to the Lakers. For that reason, I say this one is on him.

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I wrote in my Jazz recap, "In a span of 90 seconds that greatly decided the game, Devin Harris made two low percentage, highly contested three pointers." Some agreed with my implication that they were lucky baskets, and others disagreed claiming that when a good player is wide open and makes his shot, it's not luck. Just to prove I wasn't using hyperbole to make my point, let's go to the replay.

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If Greg Popovich didn't like to win as much as he does, it would be tempting to think that he hates the number twelve. Twice the Spurs have gotten on a roll in this shortened season. Two separate times they reached the number of eleven consecutive wins. And for the second time, the streak was cut short with an intentionally short-handed loss on the road as Pop decided to give his stars a rest and only traveled with the Junior Varsity to battle the Jazz in Salt Lake City. Utah is always a tough place to play. Their crowd, coming off a week of nothing else to do, always provides a playoff atmosphere regardless of the state of their team or season. Buoyed by their raucous crowd, and still stinging from a defeat at the Spurs' hands the night before, the Jazz played tough for four full quarters and the Spurs lost by seven points, 91 to 84.

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The Spurs decided to save their worst performance since the All Star break for the hottest team in the East. It seemed as if they tempted fate the last 34 minutes of the game. Maybe that was the plan all along. Perhaps they just wanted to be sure that Destiny was on our side. Well, my friends, case closed.

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Well, that was fun. The Spurs cruised to a dominating 125-90 win against the Cavaliers. Read that again. They cruised, yet dominated. Yes, the Spurs are that good. They began the game with outstanding offensive proficiency and once their defense dug in, it was over. That's your recap. The Spurs are much, much better than the teams who are bottom-dwelling in the East.

Visual representation of the state of Cleveland basketball
Wikipedia commons

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A win is a win. Sweet victory is never a bad thing. Regardless, let's focus on the team that is destined to win the championship. It's just one sloppy game that we found a way to win; no big deal. The thing to note is that we won a game that we would have lost any other year. This team is different. This team is elite. This team is young. This team is versatile. This team is destined to win it all.

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The Spurs will host the Orlando Magic Wednesday night in what should be an extremely fun game to watch. The Spurs will show up with a day's rest while the Magic will be on their second game of a back to back. Good news for the good guys. Better news for the good guys? The Magic played Miami last night. In addition, with the trade deadline looming, it seems as if every possible external variable is favoring the Spurs. Needless to say, I have a good feeling about this one.

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This eleven game win streak has been magical. The Spurs fought for a hard-earned victory over the Utah Jazz Monday night. The Jazz played an extremely physical game, which our Spurs matched beautifully. Both teams played with playoff intensity, but the Spurs emerged victorious thanks to a total team effort.

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The Spurs won their ninth game in a row, fifth of the Rodeo Road Trip, against the Toronto Raptors Wednesday night in a contest that resembled a video game. Tony Parker led all players in points, with 34, and assists, with 14, as he continued to validate his recent All Star bid. Although both teams were coming off a game the night before, they each managed to shoot a scorching 54% from the field. In the end, the good guys prevailed in a close win that extended their league leading win streak that has them in second place in the West.

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And just like that, the Spurs find themselves in the midst of a seven game winning streak while holding the 3rd spot in the Western Conference. 22 games ago, Manu Ginobili broke his hand and the Spurs were left in an undesirable position; a rigorous schedule and injuries were sure to test the Spurs. Rather than sulk, this team took control of their destiny and recorded 15 wins and only 7 losses without their best player. Tonight, the Spurs were reunited with Manu and were able to cruise to their third victory on the Rodeo Road Trip. Such an event as the return of Manu demands FARS (Fred's Arbitrary Rating System) and thus shall have it.

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The San Antonio Spurs competed for 48 grueling minutes and emerged victorious after a heated battle against the Memphis Grizzlies. At several points in the contest, it looked as if the Spurs were on the verge of breaking the game open, but Memphis always had an answer. In the end, the Spurs won with a composed and confident style - a rare occurrence for the Spurs on the road this year.

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The Spurs fell just short in an overtime loss to our hated nemesis, the Dallas Mavericks. A loss always hurts, especially to Dallas, but there were many positives to take away from the game. Let's break it down after the jump.

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The Spurs managed to secure their second road win in a close contest against the New Orleans Hornets. Coming off two losses, it was evident early on that the Spurs planned to win this game, one way or another. Unfortunately, the Hornets were not about to give this one away without a fight. This is a game that lends itself to a FARS recap, so let's get started.

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This loss to the Heat told a valuable story. Well, it told two stories: one in the first half, and its opposite in the second. During this stretch of LWM we will have to learn to accept these kinds of games, because they are very necessary.

And there will be more of them.

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via blog.timesunion.com

After a game like this one, you can only hope to distribute the blame in as fair a way as possible. I know, with so many to blame, how can I reasonably expect a busy person like you to take the time to correctly assign all the appropriate blame? Well, that's why I invented FARS (Fred's Arbitrary Rating System,) my friends. It's filled with unexpected facts, indisputable opinion, and immeasurable bias. If you would like to disagree, -10 for you!

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