San Antonio at Detroit

Sure, Detroit is a strong team that admittedly plays up or down to the level of its competition (a trait shared by many a championship team the year after it wins the title). And I expect a focused effort on behalf of interim coach Gar Heard 's guy's this afternoon. But the fact remains that Detroit is a mediocre 16-10 straight up vs. the Western Conference, while the Spurs are 22-4 vs. the Eastern Conference! And the Spurs 4 losses have all been by single digits! Indeed, only one team all season has beaten San Antonio by more than 8 points, and that was Seattle back on November 7th, in San Antonio's 3rd game of the season. How good is this record ? When the Lakers won their titles in the 2000, 2001 and 2002 seasons, they lost 12 ( 2000), ( 2001) 13, and (2002) 11 games by double digits. When the Spurs won their last title in 2003, they lost 8 games by double digits, and Detroit lost 7 games by double digits last season. The bottom line is that you always get a good effort from the Spurs, and they're worth a look anytime the price is short. One star on San Antonio.