Spurs back in the race

When the 2001-2002 season came to a close, there were several NBA teams in the middle of the pack. Most of those teams belonged there, but only one team had the talent and desire to break free.

The San Antonio Spurs began the 2002-2003 season with a mediocre 19-13 record, then closed out the year on a skid that saw them drop three out of four games. Their only victory in that stretch was against the lowly Chicago Bulls.

However, ever since then, they have been on a tear. On the strength of their recent nine-game winning streak, which came to an end on Thursday at Dallas, the Spurs have gone 18-4. They have climbed over a couple of teams and now sit in second place in the Midwest division behind the Dallas Mavericks.

Throughout the season, the talk of the Western Conference has centered on the Mavericks, which opened the year with a 13-0 record; the Sacramento Kings, who are trying to take the next step over the Los Angeles Lakers; and the battles between Lakers center Shaquille O'Neal and the Houston Rockets center Yao Ming.

What the experts have not been talking about is one of the most potent and dangerous duos in the NBA: Tim Duncan and David Robinson.

Duncan continues his run towards the Hall of Fame, averaging career highs in rebounds (12.9) and assists (3.9) before Thursday's game. And, although Robinson is nowhere near the player he once was, he is still a considerable obstacle for opponents in the middle.

The lack of attention has allowed the Spurs to quietly put together a great stretch, which has placed them just five games out in the race for the top seed in the conference.

To win a game on the road in the NBA is not an easy task. The Spurs, however, were able to put together an NBA record eight-game road winning streak. Included in those games was a key 104-101 victory over Sacramento at Arco Arena, where the Kings have lost just five games all season.

Although nobody questioned whether they were for real as they were winning those road games, that victory seemed to add a bit of legitimacy to the streak.

One of the key differences between last season, when the Spurs went 58-24 but sputtered out in the playoffs, and this season, has been the increased maturity of point guard Tony Parker.

As a 19-year old rookie, the French native averaged 9.4 points per game and 4.3 assists. This season, Parker has raised his game a notch and averages 15.1 points and 5.4 assists per game.

Parker also has improved mentally as his rookie mistakes of a year ago have all but disappeared. He appears more confident bringing the ball up and making decisions than he did a year ago.

In addition, the best point guards in the league have not intimidated Parker. On December 11th, Parker went head to head with All-Star point guard Steve Nash of the Dallas Mavericks, scoring a career-high 32 points in a 111-104 Spurs victory over the Mavs.

Although that was not the turning point of the season for the Spurs, it showed a glimpse of what was to come.

Before the Spurs victory against the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday, in which Parker played just 25 minutes and scored eight points, He had been in double digits 20 games in a row.

Before the game on Thursday, the Spurs were only 17th in the league in scoring average with 94.3 points per game, but they had picked it up during the nine-game winning streak, averaging 99.1 points in that span.

They are also an amazing 16-1 when scoring over 100 points, which is good for second in the league behind the Washington Wizards.

Most of the talk these days is centered around Kobe Bryant's streak of consecutive games scoring over 40 points and whether the Los Angeles Lakers will make the playoffs or not.

Perhaps we should turn our attention to the other side of the standings.

Coming into the season, everybody thought it was going to be a three-team race in the West. Everybody was right.

With their recent success, the Spurs have surprised many. Who knew that they, and not the Lakers, would be the third team in that race?