Spurs Continue to Roll as They Down Chicago

No Tony Parker? No Problem. Tim Duncan led the San Antonio Spurs with 18 points and 10 rebounds as they routed the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday night 101-83 to run their NBA best record to 48-14. Manu Ginobli chipped in 18 points and nine assists as they came back from a five point halftime deficit. The Bulls managed only 31 second half points against the Spurs as they fell to 34-27 on the season.
The Spurs have now won three in a row and eight of ten as they are maintaining the top spot in the Western Conference standings by three games over the Oklahoma City Thunder and by 6.5 games over the Memphis Grizzlies in the Southwest Division.
The Spurs will likely be without their star point guard for three to four weeks as he recovers from a nasty ankle sprain. In the meantime the Spurs other players will step up because that is what San Antonio does. They rarely have a full complement of players but it never seems to slow them down any.
The Grizzlies are trying to nail down the fourth seed in the West so they can host a first round playoff series with the Denver Nuggets. Not having to play four games in the mile high altitude in Denver with a Nuggets team that likes to run all night would be a good thing for the Grizzlies.
The Grizzlies knocked off the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday night 91-85. Marc Gasol led the Grizzlies with 23 points and 12 rebounds as they improved to 40-19. Memphis has won nine of their last ten games and now trails the Los Angeles Clippers by only two games for the third spot in the West.
The Houston Rockets are trying to hang on to a playoff spot. They did themselves no favors on Wednesday when they lost to the Dallas Mavericks 112-108. A win would have put them only one game behind the Golden State Warriors for sixth place. Instead the loss put them only a half game ahead of the eighth place Utah Jazz and two games ahead of the ninth place Los Angeles Lakers. The Lakers gained a game on the Rockets by ending their game on a 20-0 run to beat the New Orleans Hornets 108-102.
The Rockets will have a shot to pull close to the Warriors on Friday night when they go to Oakland. A loss could do some real damage to their playoff hopes as the Jazz will host the Bulls and the Lakers host the Toronto Raptors.