the LFor a change, the big news out of the league this week has been injures, not trades. Just when we were all settling in for the most competitive playoff race in decades, Yao Ming goes down with a stress fracture in his foot, and the whole Rockets franchise swears under its breath.

Let’s take a deeper look into the NBA and focus on 2 players and 2 teams that had a standout past 7 days;

 Â

teams of the week

spursSan Antonio Spurs

February is always a pivotal month in the NBA season, a time where trades are made, records confirmed, and legitimacy attained. Yet despite the extraordinary efforts of the Los Angeles Lakers, Phoenix Suns and Dallas Mavericks this month, there’s one team that perhaps has had a better February than them all.

The reigning NBA Champion San Antonio Spurs.

San Antonio sit first in the Division and second in the Conference with a 38-17 record, and (like the Lakers) have lost just once so far this month, despite 7 of their 10 games being played on the road. Whilst their Western rivals were busy on the phone, the net and the practice courts with all their new players, the Spurs instead were concentrating on getting their core team fit and playing together for the first time all season.

You know a team is good when they have been consistently playing .700 basketball without at least one of their top 3 players.

This week, they beat Minnesota as Manu Ginobili single-handedly carried them with 44 extraordinary points, they out-classed New Orleans in a battle of the Southwest heavyweights and the overwhelmed Atlanta despite scoring just 5 points in the first quarter.

It’s true that the Spurs have had their fair share of luck this season – and some fans can’t help but wonder if they’ll end up using all their Get Out Of Jail Free cards before the playoffs even start – but weeks like this when San Antonio simply refuse to concede losable ballgames demonstrate their near-superhuman strengths, not their weaknesses.

And now that Tony Parker is back and Damon Stoudamire can return to spot minutes off the bench, the Spurs are as balanced and as deep as they have been all season. With Parker, Ginobili, Bowen, Duncan and Oberto starting, and Stoudamire, Finley, Udoka, Horry and newcomer Kurt Thomas off the bench, this is a 10-man rotation that has more experience and toughness than the rest of the other contenders in the West put together.

Even if Brent Barry doesn’t return – and if Phoenix or Dallas do end up engaging in a bidding war for him Greg Popovich will be looking even more smug – the Spurs are a disciplined and tenacious team that is capable of winning the championship.

Tonight’s game against the Mavericks, a fellow division contender who have so far split the season series 1-1 with 2 to play, will go a long way to confirming the Spurs’ belief that no matter what their opponents do this season, the ultimate 2008 NBA Champion will have to go through San Antonio.

bobcatsCharlotte Bobcats

First, the good news. If you had told Michael Jordan that, after 57 games this season, his team would have 9 more wins than the Miami Heat, he’d have taken it. But apart from that, this year has not gone according to plan for the Charlotte Bobcats.

This team is ranked in the bottom echelon in the somewhat important statistical categories of offense (points per game), defense (opponent FG%) and rebounding (rebound differential) – an extraordinary achievement. Usually, bad teams are at least good at something.

But after a couple of impressively competitive seasons under former coach Bob Bickerstaff, the 2007/08 Bobcats have finally been exposed as a typical expansion team; they lack NBA-calibre starters, they haven’t developed a winning culture, and they don’t possess the depth to overcome critical injuries.

Already this season key rotation players Sean May and Adam Morrison haven’t played a single game, whilst do-everything forward Gerald Wallace’s legendary fearlessness has become a weakness instead of a strength – he is sidelined until further notice after suffering his 4th concussion in 4 seasons.

And as a result, the Bobcats often struggle to compete, let alone win games on any type of consistent basis. And this week, sadly, was typical.

On Friday they lost in overtime against the visiting Sacramento Kings after leading by 6 to start the 4th quarter. On Saturday they backed up in Washington and lost by 15 despite shooting 50% from the field, then after 3 days rest they got blown out by the New York Knicks, a game in which, perversely, they were actually looking forward to.

The Bobcats have lost 4 in a row, and 10 of 11 during the month of February. They are not a good NBA team.

And unless Jordan orders Wallace to sit out the rest of the season and decides to position the franchise for a top 3 draft pick, things are unlikely to get better soon. The players haven’t responded to new coach Sam Vincent the way he expected, and even if you do strike gold in the lottery it’s difficult to get both a new starting point guard and a new starting center in the same draft.

Charlotte has a relatively low payroll, a couple of good kids in Jarred Dudley and Matt Carroll, and 6 contracts coming off the books this summer. However, one of them is the rookie pact of Emeka Okafor, one of the team’s few bright spots this season; where would they be if their leading rebounder, FG% maker and shot-blocker signs a massive deal elsewhere and the Bobcats fail to match?

Jordan has a strategy to make this team a force, but during the low periods like the past week, the good times feel a long way away.

players of the week

cardinalBrian Cardinal

The ego of Grizzlies forward Brian Cardinal has taken a battering this week – when not even Chris Wallace can give you away, you know you’re unwanted. And this is a league where bad players with worse contracts, ironically, become rather desirable at the trade deadline.

And you’d think the 6 year, $36 million contract that former-GM Jerry West gave him (the very same year West won Executive of the Year, by the way), would be bad enough for a guy averging just 3½ ppg on an abysmal 32% shooting. But obviously not.

Playing for the Golden State Warriors back in 2003/04, Cardinal, the former 2nd-round pick out of Perdue in 2000, put up enough quality numbers (10 points, 4 boards, a steal and some nice percentages) to convince West into an Emperors’ New Clothes moment. In the 4 years since, Cardinal’s production has dropped from 9 points in 24 minutes per night to the current 3.6 in just over 11.

What’s worse, with all the player movement that’s recently taken place in Memphis, Cardinal is having to play even more. His returns this week, as the Grizzlies’ losing streak hit 9 games, were sadly typical of the way his Memphis career has progressed;

7 points and 5 fouls in 20 minutes against Dallas
3 points and 3 fouls in 11 minutes against Cleveland
2 points and 3 fouls in 21 minutes against Phoenix

Still, it probably beats sitting on the bench watching the fans in the half-full Fex-Ex Arena. And perhaps, if Cardinal writes a Shirley-esque book at the end of his career, it will be a good read.

Afterall, there’s not many janitors earning $6m a year.

kiddJason Kidd

Tomorrow, in case you hadn’t noticed, is the 29th February. It’s a leap year.

And out of all the 440 players in the league this season (yes, I counted), only one will have played on 4 straight 29th of Februaries. Jason Kidd.

Shaquille O’Neal has also played on the past 3 Leap Days, but Phoenix are not active tomorrow – although Miami are.

Kidd currently has a 2-1 record in games played on the 29th February, and averages 19 points on 50% shooting from the field, along with 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 3 turnovers on this day. That’s not bad.

In 1996, he played for Dallas. In 2000, he played for Phoenix. In 2004, he played for New Jersey.

Tomorrow, he’s back with the Mavs, who will be hosting Sacramento and playing the 2nd of a tricky stretch of 4 games in 5 days, 3 of them against current playoff opponents. The Mavs have won 3 in a row after losing their first game since Kidd came back to town, and are looking as if they are enjoying the game again.

This week has been fun – but the Mavs know they haven’t proved anything by beating Memphis, Minnesota and Chicago. Next week is a critical time for Dallas and their old-but-new floor leader.