Early rest gives Spurs advantage in West

Right now I don't think its a stretch to say the Spurs are the co-favorites however with the stellar play by the Mavs its more like tri-favorites out West.

This is not much of a surprise either when you consider the incredible amount of basketball that the Lakers core have played in the past few years: 3 consecutive Finals appearances including a 7-game series against the Celtics plus winning Gold medals in FIBA and the Olympics. Then there's the health factor and the Lakers have had Kobe Bryant and Bynum undergo knee surgeries this past summer. It took KG a year or so to really get back in his groove after his surgery FWIW.

If the Lakers don't have HCA over the Spurs/Mavs I don't think they are as favored as they were in the preseason especially if their mileage and health don't improve and it seems likely that they won't in this marathon of a sport. Having the defending-champ title as targets on their backs each game certainly doesn't help either. The Lakers are really biting themselves in the ass by not creating separation in the standings now since they have the easiest schedule in the NBA...playing catch-up in the NBA sucks for a veteran team as well as seen with the Spurs last season.

Spurs fans know all too well what can happen to a championship core after they log a ton of miles and if they play bball year-round without much rest and/or surgery. The biggest reason why the Spurs never repeated and are sitting at 4 trophies instead of more is due to the big 3 playing way too much basketball especially since Parker and Ginobili have to play at a MVP-level for their international teams. The rest that Parker and Ginobili decided to take and the more time Ginobili has had to recover/train from his past surgery seems to have paid dividends not to mention the better supporting cast and RJ 2.0

Simply amazing start for the Spurs even if its not a difficult schedule. 20-3 with Duncan averaging less than 29 mins per game? Nice.