The San Antonio Spurs have been very inconsistent so far this season and their record proves that (4-4).  The veteran led Spurs team now has a lot of people questioning whether they have enough juice left in their legs to make another run at an NBA title.  The Spurs are not having problems scoring points though, as they average 101.9 points per game.  The problem is that they are giving up too many points.  The Spurs have always had strong defensive teams and that is one of the reasons why they have been successful.  Last season they gave up 93 points per game, compare that to the 99.9 points they give up per contest this  season.  The Spurs have been battling the injury bug, but defense takes more effort than skill so the role players need to step it up defensively.  If the Spurs can stay healthy and get their defense back on track they will have a great shot at getting back to the NBA Finals.

Bruce Bowen is off to a rough start to December for the Spurs as he’s only hitting 18.8% from the floor so far. He has played in 3 games this month and he has averaged 31.7 minutes, 4.0 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.0 assist per game. The Spurs don’t need Bowen to add much on offense because of the great defense he plays….but….they need him to shoot better than he has so far this month.

Michael Finley has been awful this season and the Spurs must be wondering if there is anything left in the tank or not. After all, Finley is only shooting 32.9% from the floor so far this season. In his first 18 games this season Finley has averaged 24.2 minutes, 7.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game. If Finley doesn’t get his game back together soon he will start losing minutes.

Finley has not played well lately and it’s hurt the Spurs a little bit.  In his last 8 games, Finley has averaged 20.1 minutes, 7.8 points, 3.4 rebounds and 0.9 assists per game.  His shooting has been way off as he’s only hitting 37.3% from the floor and only 23.3% from three-point range (7 of 30).  Finley needs to play better because the Spurs really depend on their bench to give them quality minutes.

When the Spurs brought in Beno Udrih he came with a reputation of being a big playmaker and a good shooter.  The Spurs are still waiting for those scouting reports to pan out.  Udrih has played in 37 games and he is averaging 15.2 minutes, 5.5 points, 1.3 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game.  He also has been shooting real lousy as he’s only hit 35.6% from the floor.  He also is firing up alot of bricks from three-point range as he’s only hit 19 of 70 (27.1%) from that distance.  If he doesn’t start to play better he will see his playing time diminish.