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A 17-game win streak, a league leading record, an all-time great road record, and a league leading margin of victory are some of the things this team currently has. They easily look like the best team in basketball, and these rankings reflect that.
To boot, the great, antediluvian Duncan was named Western Conference Player of the Week for the 22nd time in his amazing career. I have nothing to add about Duncan right now. Here's an excerpt from the article on Spurs.com.
Duncan averaged a team-high 20.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 2.00 blocks while shooting .625 (35-56) from the field as the Spurs went 4-0 for the week.
Among players 37 years and older, Duncan is the only player in NBA history to average at least 15.0 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.50 blocks in a season.
Marc Stein from ESPN, (Spurs rank: 1, last week's rank: 1)
The typical Spurs response is to downplay playoff seeding, but I assure you Pop most definitely wants that No. 1 seed this time to ensure San Antonio dodges OKC and its hard-to-handle athleticism until the West finals. The Thunder are 3-0 in the season series entering Thursday's final duel.
Marc J. Spears from Yahoo! Sports (Spurs rank: 1, last week's rank: 1)
The Spurs' franchise-record-tying 17-game win streak will be tested in upcoming games against Indiana, Golden State and Oklahoma City.
Jason Patt from SBNation NBA (Spurs rank: 1, last week's rank: 1)
In the last two games, Marco Belinelli has 45 points on 17-of-26 shooting and 10-of-14 from three. Pretty, pretty good. And oh yeah, 17 wins in a row.
USA Today (Spurs rank: 1, last week's rank: 1)
They cannot equal the Heat's 27-game streak from last year well, not in the regular season.
John Schuhmann from NBA.com (Spurs rank: 1, last week's rank: 1)
The Spurs dealt with more injuries (to Tony Parker and Danny Green) last week, but injuries don't seem to matter much, especially with their defense playing better. This week obviously presents the toughest stretch of games they've faced since their winning streak began. Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard have combined to shoot just 43 percent over those last 11 games against the Thunder.
Matt Moore from CBSSports.com (Spurs rank: 1, last week's rank 1)
Wow, what a surprising turn of events. The Spurs have put together a long winning streak and in all likelihood will earn the first seed in the West. Truly shocking. You can't see it, but this is my surprised face.