- (Sports Network) - Since it's an odd year in the NBA, it wasn't really a stretch picking the San Antonio Spurs to win an NBA championship. After all, the club's last three championship rings came in 2003, 2005 and 2007.

But, any hopes of regaining championship hardware in the Alamo City revolved around the team's big three -- Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili -- having big seasons.

When Ginobili injured his left ankle late last season and then aggravated it in Beijing playing for Argentina in the Olympics, it put the talented swingman on the shelf for at least two months. Certainly not a best case scenario for Gregg Popovich's club but some were able to spin the situation as a positive.

The Spurs certainly had enough talent to tread water while waiting for Ginobili to return and the NBA's best sixth man would be all rested and ready to go for the all important stretch run.

But, when Parker suffered a severely sprained ankle against Miami last week things got even dimmer. The French star will miss a month's worth of action and Popovich's starting backcourt for the foreseeable future will be rookie George Hill and Roger Mason Jr.

Duncan is still as solid as it gets but San Antonio may have trouble keeping it together without its quarterback.

In fact, Popovich may have to scrape his preseason plan and hope to garner the seventh or eight spot in the West.

Once the playoffs start, it's a new season and it's hard to imagine anyone -- even a 65-win Los Angeles Lakers team -- wanting to face off with a playoff- tested trio of Duncan, Parker and Ginobili.

T-MAC FINDS HIS STROKE

Tracy McGrady is one of the best pure scorers in the NBA and is as tough a matchup as you will find but a sore knee was certainly affecting the superstar.

During a convincing Lakers 111-82 win over the Rockets on Sunday, McGrady was limited to three points on 1-of-11 shooting and was a woeful 1-for-16 over two games.

After seeing a doctor Wednesday morning, T-Mac went out and had his best offensive game of the season, scoring 22 of his 27 points in the second half as the Rockets routed Phoenix, 94-82, in a game marred by a fracas toward the end of the third quarter.

With 27.6 seconds left in the third, McGrady hit a three-pointer to give the Rockets a commanding 74-55 advantage, but a melee broke out thanks to the Suns' Matt Barnes and Houston's Rafer Alston. To the right of McGrady, Barnes appeared to shove Alston, who was setting a pick. After the play, Alston came back and had some words for Barnes.

"(Barnes) took a cheap shot at me," Alston said after the game. "If you look at the replay, the ref is standing there watching it. It was a dirty play. There was no call for my reaction really, but sometimes when someone goes at you like that, you just react."

McGrady came in to defend his teammate and shoved Phoenix guard Steve Nash to the floor. Suns policeman Shaquille O'Neal immediately came in and pushed McGrady to the floor.

"It was just a shoving match," O'Neal said. "I saw somebody push (Nash), and so I came to his aid. It wasn't anything good."

The Barnes push was apparently in retaliation for a screen McGrady had set earlier, which caused Nash to suffer a gash on his neck. Nash, O'Neal and McGrady all received technical fouls, while Alston and Barnes were ejected.

McGrady shot 11-of-18 from the floor and 4-for-5 from long range for the Rockets,

It's tough to say the fracas let a fire under McGrady since T-Mac was dominating before it even started but the chippy play against a tough opponent certainly seemed to help the seven-time All-Star's energy level.



DOOR SLAMMED SHUT

Mark Cuban is the kind of owner you want as a fan. The mercurial billionaire will never rest until his team wins a title but let's be honest, the door has slammed shut on this version of the Mavs.

Three short years ago, the Mavs were in the NBA Finals, losing to the Miami Heat. Dallas was heavy favorites to win the championship following an incredible 67-15 regular season in 2006-07, but then came a shocking first- round loss to Golden State in the playoffs. Last year, it was the same song and dance...another first-round ousting, this time in New Orleans.

Sick and tired of not reaching the pinnacle, Cuban unloaded Avery Johnson in the offseason and brought in a former Coach of the Year in Rick Carlisle but things have been ugly early on and the Mavs are off to a miserable 2-5 start.

Los Angeles' Pau Gasol had 22 points and 11 rebounds, and converted a critical three-point play with 23.1 seconds remaining, helping the Lakers remain unbeaten with a 106-99 win over the reeling Mavericks in Dallas on Tuesday.

Jason Kidd logged his 101st career triple-double with 16 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists, but the Mavericks fell to 0-3 at home for the first time since 1993-94, when they lost their first 19 home games.

"It is early, but at the same time we need to start getting some wins under our belt," said Kidd. "We can learn from this game and understand that we are not that far off. We just need to stay together and keep fighting."



CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDER?

Most consider New Orleans a legitimate championship contender but the Hornets came up short in their first chance to prove it when they failed to hold serve on their homecourt in a 93-86 loss to the Lakers Wednesday.

Star guard Chris Paul did extend his amazing record of at least 20 points and 10 assists in all seven games this season, finishing with 30 points, seven rebounds and 13 assists, going 13-of-19 from the field. "The Big O" Oscar Robertson had the previous mark of five in a row to start the 1968 campaign with the Cincinnati Royals.

David West added 21 points and 12 rebounds, but accounted for six of New Orleans' 17 turnovers. Peja Stojakovic tallied 10 points, but was 3-of-13 from the floor, for the Hornets, who have dropped three of their last four games.

When the Hornets went 7-0 in the preseason and then won their first three games in the regular season, things looked bright for New Orleans and this is certainly a 50-win team but I have a feeling the lack of depth is going to hurt Byron Scott.

An impressive starting five of Chris Paul, West, Stojakovic, Morris Peterson, and Tyson Chandler is supplemented by veteran James Posey and little else.



MAYO GIVES GRIZZLIES HOPE

The Grizzlies are still an afterthought in one of the toughest divisions in the NBA but rookie O.J. Mayo, the third overall pick in the 2008 draft, has locals thinking things may finally change.

The USC product is averaging a team-best 20.6 points per game and has the look of a natural scorer that will eventually challenge for an NBA scoring title.

If only Mike Conley Jr., the fourth overall pick in '07, showed similar promise, coach Marc Iavaroni might have something.

Instead, Conley has taken a huge step back in his second NBA season and Iavaroni is frustrated, calling out his point guard after an embarrassing 132-103 loss to New York at home on Wednesday.

"He's not playing with confidence," Iavaroni said. "He has to play harder. When he plays hard, he's a good player. When he doesn't play hard, he's average."

Ouch.

Conley is averaging just 5.3 points and 3.8 assists while shooting a miserable 31.6 percent from the field in the team's first nine games.

He's never been a great jump shooter but had the speed and quickness to break down a defender. Lack of effort will always hamper that skill, however.











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