Schedule for the rest of January

[draft87]

Take a moment to look at the schedule. Hopefully there won't be any blowout losses. I would love a 10 game winning streak but I will accept that it's likely not to happen. If we lose I want to see a tough loss. I want to see the Spurs get a competitive edge and a clutchtime identity. You now we pointed out a week or so ago our impressive scoring margin but it's not going to hurt to learn our team chemistry in a tight game. Indiana was a good game, so was the Dallas win...does Houston count? New York? We really haven't had many close games. We played crappy and got close against Portland and Toronto but I'm not sure I'd call them close games. Either way we haven't cut our teeth in the clutch yet.

This is a rough schedule. A lot of games. Only one set of games has more than day's rest. Don't underestimate Memphis. So get ready, cheer on your team, but don't get too discouraged by a couple losses. This really is a tough schedule and we may end up regretting not taking advantage of the early season and racking up the wins.

All of these teams are in "playoff contention". Yes, obviously it's too early to call it a race but it's late enough to respect the Conference standings.

For example, the 7th seed in the East after 20 games doesn't really gauge the competition cause that team who is 11-9 might end up being 14-16 at 30 games. That has happened. But today, 1/12/10, the entire league doesn't have a streak longer than win or lose 2 games besides New Jersey's L5.

The teams in the East that are even under .500 have been pretty much in the 6-10 slots for the past couple weeks. You can say the same for the West.

Charlotte is 17-19 and Chicago is 16-20. Chicago is a talented team with arguably poor coaching. Their have size and athletic ability and have already beaten us bad on the 2nd game of the season. Charlotte is a rough team with an emerging defense featuring Gerald Wallace and a new ability to put up points since getting Stephen Jackson.

New Orleans is 19-17 and Memphis is 19-18. Memphis is really hot and New Orleans is a division rival finding their identity who also would like to get back at us for the humiliating season opener. Never underestimate a team lead by Chris Paul.

...after this month is the Rodeo trip. So we have 10 game stretch of road and tough competition. Then the Rodeo trip and the All-Star break. I believe we are about to see the San Antonio Spurs become the 2010 San Antonio Spurs.


Wed, Jan 13 @ Oklahoma City (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=okc) 8:00 PM (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/preview?gameId=300113025)

Fri, Jan 15 @ Charlotte (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=cha) 7:00 PM
Sat, Jan 16 @ Memphis (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=mem) 8:00 PM

Mon, Jan 18 @ New Orleans (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=nor) 3:30 PM

Wed, Jan 20 Utah (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=uth) 9:00 PM

Fri, Jan 22 Houston (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=hou) 8:30 PM


Mon, Jan 25 Chicago (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=chi) 8:30 PM

Wed, Jan 27 Atlanta (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=atl) 8:30 PM

Fri, Jan 29 Memphis (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=mem) 8:30 PM

Sun, Jan 31 Denver (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=den) 1:00 PM

[draft87]

about the Bobcast, from today's ESPN Daily Dime

"
Last season Larry Brown traded superstar Jason Richardson (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=1018) for Boris Diaw (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=2167)Raja Bell (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=49). People said he was crazy, that those players were too incomplete, they'd never improve. They made a serious push for the playoffs that was only bested by Chicago's easy late schedule.
This summer, they traded franchise center Emeka Okafor (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=2399) for Tyson Chandler (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=984). People said that it was a terrible trade and the Bobcats would regress. Then Jackson traded Bell and Vladimir Radmanovic (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=1016) for Stephen Jackson (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=378). Mercurial, high-maintenance, wanted to play for a contender. Surely this was a disaster.
The Bobcats started the season as the worst offense in the league outside of lowly New Jersey. They had no perimeter scorer, no slashing guard, no compliment to Gerald Wallace (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/players/profile?playerId=1026), who has played at an All-Star level this season. So adding Jackson made a lot of sense, and yet the jeers continued, primarily (and reasonably) because of the long-term cap complications of their roster makeup. Even though Brown has shown no hesitation or difficulty in moving contracts, it seemed like they had simply compounded their long-term limitations.
So with an incomplete roster, on a night where Wallace had a bad night, with doomed long-term viability, and after facing a very good playoff-contending team in the Houston Rockets (http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/clubhouse?team=hou), Brown walked to his car -- with a smile on his face. Or rather, whatever resembles a smile when it's on Brown's face.
'Captain' Jackson scored a career-high 43 points and the Bobcats' defense held Houston to just 24 points in the second half, and the Cats improved to 17-19, 14-4 at home (tied for best in the league), and 7-3 in their last 10. Once again, Brown's crazy alchemy is netting results. The East is in yet another year of mediocrity past the top four seeds, and the Bobcats find themselves in the seventh seed, just a game behind Miami for fifth.
Look out, the crazy old guy has the Bobcats playing legit.
To read more, check out Moore's TrueHoop Network blog, Hardwood Paroxysm . (http://www.hardwoodparoxysm.com/)" and

[TDMVPDPOY]

we can win all those games

but pop will pull something out of his bag of new tricks and lose 1 game for the lulzwtfbbqftl

[draft87]

we can win all those games

but pop will pull something out of his bag of new tricks and lose 1 game for the lulzwtfbbqftl


say what?

[sportan73]

I'll take 9-1 :)

[Bukefal]

We can indeed win em all. But I think we'll have a tough time against Utah and Denver.

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

7-3 would be a good outcome from these games.

[TinTin]

I got a bad feeling about atl's athleticism

[Chieflion]

I don't like threads like this, that people post their predicted records. Usually ends up jinxing the Spurs.

[Muser]

The Charlotte/Memphis B2B will be very hard.

[CubanMustGo]

The Charlotte/Memphis B2B will be very hard.

Tonight's second half of the LAL-OKC B2B will be very hard. Timmy played nearly 40 minutes against the Lakers, Tony's dealing with PF, and it's another one of those "travel and play less than 24 hours later" games that Pop detests.

[Agloco]

I'm worried about this road trip. It so happens that all of those teams are hot right now, and Charlotte is 14-4 at home (that's better than the Spurs for you casual fans out there...). I see this going 2-2. If we can pull this one out tonight against OKC, mebbe 3-1.

[mytespurs]

I'll take 9-1 :)

So would I but that is just a pipe dream in my view. :toast