San Antonio Spurs Can Usurp NBA Title Throne from Kobe Bryant's Lakers

The San Antonio Spurs have the best record in the NBA.

No, seriously.

2010-11 was a year targeted by some to be the defined beginning of the Spurs’ demise after over a decade of dominance, but right now, the Spurs sit at a franchise-best start 12-1.

Better than the Lakers.

Better than the Hornets.

Better than the Celtics.

Roughly a million times better than the Heat.

Apparently nobody informed Duncan Incorporated that they were supposed to lay down for the rest of the league.

Monday’s victory over Orlando (9-4, second place in East) created a buzz throughout the league that these Spurs are for real and not just an early season fluke. They already have six quality wins over teams that would be in the playoffs if the season ended today, with victories over Indiana, Oklahoma City, Chicago, Utah, Cleveland, and previously mentioned Orlando.

Throw in a win over 7-7 nemesis Phoenix, and the Spurs look unstoppable, currently sporting an 11-game winning streak.

Thanks to inspired and consistent play by Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, along with the re-emergence of Richard Jefferson, San Antonio is as poised as a team to make a run at the Lakers’ title reign, and bring the city its fifth Larry O’Brien Trophy since 1999.

The Spurs have even already beaten Los Angeles twice this season.

(Alright, I may have misled you there. They’ve beaten the Clippers.)

The Lakers and Spurs don’t face off until the defending champs invade the AT&T Center on December 28th.

A lot can happen between now and then, but if the impressive start to the season is any indication, Gregg Popovich’s team will be ready to re-establish its spot they held for so long as the team to beat out west.

New Orleans (11-2) is the only team that has managed to hand San Antonio a loss thus far, in a 99-90 match-up back in October. The Spurs get two more meetings with the Hornets before the LA game in late December; good preparation for the post-Christmas showdown.

(It’s worth mentioning that the Hornets gave the Clippers their second win of the season on Monday night.)

Apart from the New Orleans games, San Antonio has just a handful of games over the next month against opponents with winning records.  

If all goes according to plan, when the Lakers come to town, the Spurs will still have a tight hold on the top spot in the Western Conference as the calendar turns to 2011.

And once that happens, the last remaining doubters will start to come around and buy into the upstart Spurs.