This Week Today: The week ahead for the San Antonio Spurs

Last week was a good week for the Spurs. Just before the week started, the good guys beat the Thunder, handing OKC another loss where they had a lead going into the fourth quarter. The Thunder were up 72-66 with 10 and a half minutes left to play in the ballgame, but ended up getting outplayed and losing 85-93. The Spurs followed that up by thoroughly beating the Clippers 108-87, taking care of the Blazers 118-110 and, of course, besting the Warriors on Saturday, 87-79.

That makes it very clear that the Spurs are by far the best team in the league...at the AT&T Center. The Spurs are now 35-0 at home this season and have won 44-straight regular-season home games going back to last season, which ties the 95-96 Bulls for the second longest such streak of all time (the Warriors are currently enjoying a 50-game home winning streak.)

Last weeks numbers:

In three games, the Spurs posted a point-differential of 12.3, shot 49.2% from the field and 42.1% from three. Per-game, 26 of their 40 field goals were assisted. Opponents were limited to 42.5% shooting from the floor, 35% from three and were out-rebounded by SA 44-38. San Antonio held their opponents to 98.5 points per 100 possessions while scoring 113.6 points per 100 of their possessions, which adds up to a stellar net rating of +15.1, a little better than their league-best season-mark of +13.4.

This Week:

It's a four-game week for the San Antonio Spurs this week with away games book-ending a couple of home games. It starts tonight on the road in Charlotte.

The Charlotte Hornets sit in sixth in the Eastern Conference, sporting a record of 39-30 and a solid 26-11 record at home. They've wildly exceeded their preseason projections, Vegas set their season win-total at just 31.5, with a roster that doesn't really look like they should have won 56% (a 46-win pace) of their games. 8-2 in their last 10, Charlotte went 2-2 last week, losing to the Mavericks and Nuggets and notching wins against the Magic and Heat. The Spurs, justifiably, are favored by six tonight. For more about tonight's game check out our game preview.

The Spurs then return to the Alamo City and get a day off before the Miami Heat come to town. The Heat currently reside in the four-seed in the East, having used a 8-3 stretch to move up the standings. They're riding high after their biggest win of the season on Saturday where they beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 122-101 and Dwyane Wade joined the 20,000-point club. The game will be a SEGABABA for Miami as they play the Pelicans in New Orleans Tuesday night, and the Spurs will have the odds in their favor to make it 45-straight home-wins and move past the Bulls into second outright in the the home-win-streak rankings.

Another day off follows for the Silver and Black follows before the week's toughest challenge -- a back-to-back against the Grizzlies and Thunder on Friday and Saturday.

The Spurs have owned the Grizzlies with Marc Gasol playing, having won eight of the last ten meetings between the teams and winning the previous two games this season by a combined 30 points. But it's going to be an especially tough road-game for Memphis, who sit firmly in the five-seed in the West, without the services of their All-NBA center who is out for the rest of the season with a foot injury. The Grizz have had a rough go of late, being hit hard with injuries on top of Gasol being out, and have gone 3-6 in their last nine. This is a game that the Spurs should try to put away early because...

You better believe that the Thunder want to avenge their recent loss to the Spurs. The Thunder have had the Spurs' number in the regular season over the past three seasons, racking up six wins to three losses. Of course, the Spurs did beat them 4-2 in the Western Conference Finals on the way to the 2014 Championship, but the Thunder have taken the Blazers' role of team-that-beats-the-Spurs in the regular season. With the season drawing to a close, it will be interesting to see if Pop elects to rest anyone on this SEGABABA. Or maybe the Warriors will drop a game this week and Extraneous G will make a play for the one-seed. I'd bet on the former, but you never know.

Milestone watch:

• Tim Duncan trails Gary Payton by one minute on the all-time NBA minutes played list. Assuming he logs at least two minutes against the Hornets, Tim will have played the 10th most regular season minutes in NBA history. Tim is already at the top of  the all-time leaderboard in playoff minutes played.
• Tony Parker trails Chris Mullin (69th) by 122 points on the all-time points list. Very unlikely the Wee Frenchman gets it done this week, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.
• Manu Ginobili is currently tied with LeBron James for 31st on the all-time three-point list. He trails Baron Davis by three. 
  

Three-point list:

Free Throws:

Manu (#137) needs 11 to pass Eddie Johnson
Tony (#139) needs 7 to pass Lou Hudson
LMA (#225) needs 4 to pass Yao Ming

Offensive Rebounds:

LMA (#105) needs 11 to pass Antoine Walker
DWest (#148) needs 9 to pass Michael Jordan
Andre Miller (#230) needs 2 to pass Kevin Duckworth

Defensive Rebounds:

DWest (#97) needs 10 to pass Clifford Robinson
LMA (#117) needs 26 to pass Joe Smith
Andre Miller (#183) needs 8 to pass Thurl Bailey
Boris Diaw (#202) needs 7 to pass Lorenzen Wright

Total Rebounds:

DWest (#152) needs 2 to pass Bill Cartwright
LMA (#160) needs 18 to pass Alton Lister

Assists:

Tim Duncan( 94) needs 3 to pass Dick McGuire

Steals:

Manu (#71) needs 3 to pass Kenny Anderson
Tim (#146) needs 3 to pass Stephon Marbury and Paul Westphal
Tony (#172) needs 5 to pass Marcus Camby and Rick Fox

Minutes Played:

Boris (#199) needs 10 to pass Jermaine O'Neal
DWest (#206) needs 3 to pass Robert Horry