...is just outing themselves as a hack that pays more attention to the box scores than the games.

Yeah, it's painfully obvious.

Most NBA analysts only care about the teams they consider to be contenders. The Spurs (or Hornets) could go 40-1 in the first half and they'd still say.."yeah, but I dont see them winnning a series against the Lakers".

The Lakers are the team to beat this year no question... but I wouldn't sleep on the Spurs. This team is deeper than the 2007 team. That's why they can win without Duncan. Chicago is over .500, but the Spurs won that game very casually last night. Relax until halftime, blow them out in the third quarter, then play better team ball in the fourth to ice the win.

I'll believe the Hornets are legit if they are still around at the all-star break.

Actually, I think his stats per minute are significantly down.

The offense didn't appear to go through Duncan last night. I wasn't watching that close, but it seemed to be the Parker/Ginobili show.

I don't see any problem with it. If the Spurs are clicking with Duncan off to a "slow start", which by his standards he is, then that's a great sign. Duncan is getting old and the less energy he has to exert in the early going, the better.

The Spurs are starting to infuse some youth into the team, which I was worried they would not start doing. All in all, things look good. It will be interesting to see if they can keep this up. I was disappointed to see Anderson go down; he was exceeding expectations, but I think Neal has stepped in for him nicely. Hope to see Danny Green reach his potential finally and put in some good minutes as well.

It would be a mistake to try and run the offense through Duncan. This is a pick and roll, drive and kick team. Duncan can get his on elbow jumpers and offensive put backs. Then he can continue to play defense and rebound at an all star level. He's still one of the best defensive big men in the league.

ItalAggie illustrates exactly what I'm speaking of. The way this offense is run has changed and his role in that is huge yet doesn't show up on paper the way it did before.

Give me this year's Duncan vs the last two any time.

Has a triple double tonight against the Warriors.

From what I have seen, Duncan's game has fallen off dramatically. But there are more contributors on this team than in the last couple years. Manu is now clearly option #1, Jefferson is finally playing like, well, Jefferson, and everyone else is hitting shots. When Duncan can put up a triple double for this team, it is gravy.

The biggest indication that Duncan is in decline happened in the T-Wolves game a week ago. Up by a couple points, with Minnesota holding the ball, Dyess gets substituted in for Duncan, who watches from the bench as his team clinches the win on defense. Never would have imagined I'd see Tim Duncan on the bench when the Spurs are trying to win a game on D.

I'll wait until they are about 30-5 before I start to think this will lead to anything. The Lakers have still got to be the clear-cut favorites, and until the Spurs make a few statements against them and some of the league's other elite teams, I'm going to just consider this a "nice run", and nothing more.