Reviewing the Spurs' first 10 games of the season

Here's a look at the Spurs through 10 games, even though they've played 11... it's a good idea to keep The Lexicon at your fingertips in order to assist your progress through the following idiocy.

The Good:

Except for the Portland game, the defense has been otstanding, and I don't even count that since it was a BABA on the road against a good team. Even THE ARGENTINE is playing well on defense, with a 94 rating, which is the second best of his career after the 2003-04 season. The way they're locking people down has to be rec'd to the neon green, mis amigos. Though Duncan looks like he's suffering from Plantar Faschmitis on offense, he's still shutting down fools on the other end. It's true that the fellas haven't exactly faced the most daunting competition yet -(sarcasmometer just broke) but still, they've been amazine and even brillian at times, and it cannot be stated enough.

One thing I really appreciate is that so far the Spurs have taken care of business on FIGABABAS. I mean it's not like they're a team of young guys like Lionel Messi and Sergei Aguero in their prime. We have no idea who Pop is going to rest on those second games, so they have to poach those first games like Gonzalo Higuain does for that team in Italy. So far, I've rec'd Pop's decisions to the 37th pic when it comes to resting Duncan because both times he sat the big fella, the Spurs won easily and nobody has had to play too many minutes.

Another thing I'm happy with so far is Manu, though the the advanced stats community would have you believe he's really struggling. You take a look at the pass he miracle whipped to Boris Diaw against the Celtics the other night and you tell me he's done. As long as he can do that, he'll always have a permanent psot reserved in my basketball-loving heart and he'll still be worthy of being on the court in crunch time rather than being a PSOT. Manu hasn't sat in one SEGABABA yet, though I suspect that will change in later months.

Speaking of Manu, the bench has been absolutely terrific so far. If the Spurs keep rolling like this, maybe Ginobili will tweet something along the lines of "STOP ME IF YOU CAN OPPENENTS. THEN I WILL JUST PASS IT TO BORIS. OR MAYBE BORIS MIGHT PASS TO ME. OR MAYBE BELINELLI MIGHT PASS TO MILLS." but probably not because he's a humble dude. My job prevents me from watching too many games live, and it sucks because I'd love to be participating in the game threads Where the Magic Happens on those nights where the bench is dominating. The crazy thing is, none of the fellas on the bench are all that athletic. They all could be inflicted with Plantar Fascimpossibletospellitis and we'd never know it, though Pop would probably joke that they're not throwing down tomahawk dunks because they're practicing knee-maintenance. Hopefully injuries won't be an issue with the limutes Pop gives them and thankfully it's not a strike year so there won't be any Triple Lindys to worry about.

[Editor's note: The following passage is written in the ARGENTINE dialect. With bits of Artest-speak mixed in. - jrw]

WHILE WERE ON THE TOPIC OF THE BENCH I DONT KNOW WHATS GOTTEN INTO BORIS DIAW MAYBE ITS BECAUSE HES ENTERING THE WALK YEAR OF HIS CONTRACT BUT ITS LIKE HES WRITING A LETTER TO POP SAYING PAY ME ALL THE MONEY I CAN OPPENENTS ALL GAME LONG EVERY NIGHT NOBODY CAN.

Boris be hyperizin' he be mesmerizin' with his up fake and cream shake, up and under make you blunder fallin for that drop step makin Pop's rep grow larger and larger and you know he's in charge tho he's gonna keep callin Bobo's number and Boris'll lumber down that lane and bring the pain aw yeah...

Let's face it, Diaw's been straight delivering Plutocratic Facetious to people, and I don't even know what that is, but it sounds unpleasant.

Another fellow we have to give credit to is Marco Belinelli. I better don the Hyperbole Cape just in case this comes back to bite me, but I dare say that so far he's been the best free agent signing since Brent Barry, and it's no wonder that they're similar guys who are filling similar roles, a second poing guard on the floor along with Manu on that second unit. The really cool thing is that Belinelli has similar skills to Ginobili and he's only 27, so it's easy to imagine him carrying the bench for when the Argentine is being rested on those THIGAFONIS.

[Editor's note: The following passage is written in the physcopops dialect. - jrw]

i don't now how many yeers i've posted for this blog... but one thing i freakin' know fer sure..... bezides Malik Rose being a freakin' beast!!! and anyone who thinks udderwise being a freakin' idiot.. is that Marko Bellineli is gonna make all u douters look like idiots i mean comon hes fer real am i rite???

Bottom line, I think if we're ever gonna get Timmy number five, Belinelli is going to play a major role in it.

Then there's Tiago Splitter, who'll only be featured on the Whirlwide Liter if he's getting dunked on and won't ever get national respect. Nevertheless, we know the deal. Splitter is one of the top guys in the whole league in both offensive and defensive rating and is only allowing 30 percent on opponents scoring attempts at the rim. That's a lower percentage than Roy Hibbert, Joakim Noah or Omer Asik. Obviously tactice makes perfect so Splitter's indoctrination to Pop's system these past few years is paying off. Like I mentioned above with Belinelli and Ginobili, Splitter will be the guy to give Duncan a breather on those FOGAFINIS and FOGASINIS (though thankfully no FIGASINIS this year).

[Editor's note: The following passage is written in the BLOLAIR dialect. - jrw]

TIAGO SPENT THE OFFSEASON THINKIN LIKE A BIZ MAN TRYNA GET RICH LOL & HE GOT PAID!!! LOL!!! SO S/O TO YO BOY WUT LOL!!! SteelerNation!!! LOL U FEEL ME BRUH LOL!!!

Stats or no stats, Splitter is playing like the M11g truth, even though he still uses too much of that Shy Hook for my taste.

A dude who's not shy at all is Tony Parker, who'd be a Superstart for any team in the league, even the Cippers. Parker was one of the main reasons the Spurs swept through a recent FIGASENI, and there'll be a couple more of those on the schedule coming up. A handy tip: Do not try to comment on game threads when Parker's got it going because you'll be so caught up in his moves you're bound to accidentally create a bunch of REPLY FAILS. I mean, we go into every game with the understanding that Tony needs to dominate Fisher, and that's a lot of pressure, but almost every time he comes through, especially in the fourth quarter. I'll tell you what, defesivily he hasn't been half bad, either. Sometimes the dude just abuses people so badly that he makes me GOL, and that's not easy for a grump like me. It may sound agreegious of me, but I really do think, like most of you do, that he's the best point guard in the league. I just hope he stays healthy this year and doesn't develop Plantar Fassyboyah.

Finally, we come to Kawhi Leonard. I hate to make it sound like I'm some kind of profit, but as a I stated repeatedly in my Western Conference Previews, the ever-developing Leonard has a ways to go before he takes over as the face of the franchise. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy with how he's played so far, and lord knows his young legs will serve us well during the RRT and beyond, and every night he seems to make a couple of plays that force you to have to ACHOO to prevent Reply Fails, it would take a sad decent from Parker indeed for Leonard to become the head of the snake all of sudden. The reason I've still got Leonard on the positive ledger even though he's not hurting people from deep or penetrating that effectively (TWSS) is because overall his defense has been incredible, not just the steals and the corks but just the way he's generally been able to bottle up his man while still wreaking havoc all over the court. Leonard, even more than Ginobili these days, routinely makes defensive plays on one end and winds up finishing them off emphatically on the other end, causing me to spontaneously shout all kinds of things that would get me banded from the blog. Leonard almost executes as many OMFBs these days as Parker, don't you think, Hipuks?

Yes, I definitely think that's true.

No doubt about it, he does. ....

All right, that's enough foolishness for one post. We'll tackle the negatives -- briefly -- in tomorrow's rehash of the Grizzlies game (which I have the Spurs losing, by the way, just because they've played so many bad teams of late that the step up in class might be a bit disorienting for them.)

• Game Preview: San Antonio Spurs vs. Cleveland Cavaliers
• Spurs survive vicious Grizzly attack, Davy Crockett their way to nine straight
• Morning Rehash: Gasol's injury mars Spurs win
• Why you'll never appreciate Tiago Splitter if you just go by the box score
• Only small adjustments needed to get Duncan's offense going