The Spurs crushed the Wizards Saturday night, winning by 26 and making Washington look foolish.  Of course, two nights earlier, the 76ers made them look silly, beating San Antonio in one of the season's lowest scoring games 77-71.  On such thin reeds lies hope.  The Spurs are on pace to win 68 games and could become one of the NBA's best teams ever.

While the Spurs' Big Three of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili get a lot of attention, the Spurs have a gritty and diverse bench with players like George Hill, Gary Neal and Antonio McDyess able to light it up or make a key play. It's not for nothing that Mikhail Prokhorov sees the Spurs as a model for his Nets.

A number of players and coaches on the two teams have connections to the other. Richard Jefferson of course starts for the Spurs and Chris Quinn comes off the bench.  Avery Johnson won his ring with the 1999 Spurs.  Ben Uzoh is a San Antonio native and Nets video coordinator Patrick Spurgin joined the team after working for the Spurs.

Meanwhile, with the trade deadline now 10 days away, expect a lot more ink to be spilled on Carmelo Anthony rumors.

• New Jersey Nets Game Notes - New Jersey Nets
• San Antonio Spurs Game Notes - San Antonio Spurs
• Getting Inside - New Jersey Nets - Sports Xchange
• Getting Inside - San Antonio Spurs - Sports Xchange
• Spurs-Nets Preview - Stats LLC
• Nets coach pounding the rock - Mike Monroe - San Antonio Express-News
  
• Nets coach Avery Johnson wants team to be known for its outside game - Colin Stephenson - Star-Ledger
• Johnson keeps focus on San Antonio, not Anthony - Fred Kerber - New York Post
• Nets, not Knicks, have a bigger . . . Need for 'Melo - Marc Berman - New York Post
• Carmelo admits he fasted for 21 days recently as saga drags on - Stefan Bondy - New York Daily News
• Lopez may lack rebounding stats, but Fields admires talent, ability of college teammate - Stefan Bondy - New York Daily News
  
• Nets have Texas-sized challenge against Spurs - Al Iannazzone - The Nets Insider