it's no old folks home, yo! ... illustration by san antonio express-news

matt bonner's new 4-year, $16-million deal with da spurs now allows our favorite "sandwich hunter" to splurge on "double meat" on road trips ... but basketball jones is here to let us know that the spurs big 3 (-point shooter) hasn't gone all south beach on us ... the red rocket still knows how to make a good homemade sandwich and teach us a thing or two on how to do it. good to see him following tim duncan's lead ... 'cause that's how we roll on the sandwich antonio spurs. The Jones: Cooking with Matt Bonner from The Basketball Jones on Vimeo.

spurs need to hire andrés cantor, just so he can say, "TIAGOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!" ... ... photo by john davenport / san antonio express-news

1997. 1996. 1992 ... i guess an nba legend comes around only thrice a decade (six times a decade if we count kg, dirk & nash from the '90s). but does anybody in today's 2010 nba draft have what it takes? my #1 guess at legendary status is john wall ... derrick favors has a shot (hope the philly sixers or brooklyn nets draft him) ... rooting for evan turner ... and my heart is with fresno state beloved bulldog paul george (don't think my spurs have a chance to get him now). but like i said, a true nba legend only comes around once every two or three or four years. enjoy the draft thursday ... and relive some great '90s drafts with these active living legends ... 1997 1996 1992

tim duncan & tony parker were the celeb headliners at ufc 114 in las vegas saturday night ... got in some poker. got in some partying @ beso to celebrate tony's 28th birthday with wife eva ... then t. & the boys hit the big rashad-rampage ufc 114 fight, only to be booed loudly by the mgm grand crowd when timmy's face showed up on the bigscreen. yes. las vegas is still a laker town, boys, lol ... and contrary to reports, we cannot confirm anything about a casino brawl with seth green. ... photos by tony parker [nsfw vid]

in retrospect, the spurs improved themselves over the year and had the 8th-best season in 2009-10, in my humble opinion ... 4. cleveland cavaliers 5. orlando magic* 6. utah jazz 7. portland trail blazers 8. san antonio spurs 9. dallas mavericks 10. atlanta hawks that said, the man whose opinion really matters is spurs chairman & c.e.o. peter holt ... so listen to hear what the 4-time championship owner thinks ... The Man who signs the checks.

since it's pick-on-spurs week, here's gambo & ash with "i kicked a spur & i liked it" ... stay classy, phoenix!, lol.

lmao. this is a classic find. first off, understand marc blucas & tim duncan are best of friends and were once teammates at wake forest ... whenever timmy plays the lakers & clippers in los angeles, marc is often there to support ... while waiting to catch up with tim after a game, i've spent many good times at staples center (and the forum before that) hanging with marc ... talented actor & supercool dude! which makes this deleted film clip with marc even funnier to me ... it was discovered by andrew mcneill over at 48 minutes of hell and comes from the 2007 film "the jane austen book club". marc plays dean drummond. emily blunt plays prudie drummond ... enjoy ... [not suitable for work] ... photo by kevin winter / getty images via life.com

far be it from me to tell the greatest organization in 21st century sports how to run their business ... but if i were gm'ing the san antonio spurs, i wouldn't change up too much for the 2010-11 season. yes, the phoenix suns thoroughly outplayed the spurs in the 2010 nba playoffs ... but i still believe this spurs' team is a top contender and will only get better in the future ... they just ran into a hotter team this time around (suns were 34-9 since january 26). the common theme from critics is that san antonio is too old ... but that song has been sung since 1999 ... the spurs always have veteran teams. that's how they won 4 championships ... but in reality, this spurs' squad was one of its youngest--the 5th youngest team in the playoffs this year at 27.0 years average age. san antonio does have 3 starters in their 30s--tim duncan (34), antonio mcdyess (35) and manu ginobili (32)--but if you look at their playoff adjusted plus-minus (+5.26, +3.12, +2.40) or their playoff oncourt/offcourt rating (+14.58, +8.21 & +2.08), those were 3 of their 4 best players in the playoffs ... yes, the 30somethings may decline ...

"when it's all said and done, there's nothing left to say or do." -- anonymous ... photo by d. clarke evans / nba

down to last breath ... so, while grasping at straws, trying to find hope, came across this. there is ONE san antonio spurs' lineup that is working against the phoenix suns: it's their best five, tony parker-manu ginobili-richard jefferson-antonio mcdyess-tim duncan. when MR ATT is on the floor (manu, richard, antonio, tim, tony) in 28.25 minutes of this three-game series so far, the spurs have outscored the phoenix suns, 74-55 ... that's a +39 score translated to 48 minutes (26 possessions for/ 28 against) ... and that's against nash-jrich-hill-amare and either frye/collins, for the most part. that same spurs' lineup of MR ATT is the No. 1 unit of all teams in the 2010 nba playoffs, with an adjusted plus-minus of +28.12 ... it's even better than cleveland's best of mo-parker-lebron-jamison-varejao (+25.14). of the other spurs' 8 combos that have gone 5+ minutes in this series against the suns, this is the only one that has worked so far. so my suggestion: play MR ATT for 48 minutes sunday night at the AT&T Center!!!, lol ... just kidding ... hill, bonner, blair, mason & bogans will be just as key to any victory. happy to help ... love ya, steve nash. love ya, grant hill ...

T.R.U.E. Projection 2010 NBA Playoffs Round 2 Phoenix Suns vs. San Antonio Spurs I take the regular-season T.R.U.E. score and multiply it by the percentage of playoff playing time to get the TRUE-derivative score. I then compare the two team numbers, factor in home-court advantage and let the numbers determine the most likely seven-game scenario. Note: Any alterations made to T.R.U.E. or p-MPG will be denoted and explained below. SUNS score: +4.46 SPURS score: +9.11 T.R.U.E. Projection: SPURS IN 6 Chance of SUNS Series Win: 36% Chance of SPURS Series Win: 64% Suns ... T.R.U.E. ... p-PT%/p-MPG ... T-d Amare Stoudemire ... -0.70 ... .721/34.7 ... -0.50 Steve Nash ... +11.46 ... .687/33.0 ... +7.88 Jason Richardson ... +0.48 ... .672/32.3 ... +0.32 Channing Frye ... -0.07 ... .595/28.5 ... -0.04 Grant Hill ... -2.65 ... .562/27.0 ... -1.49 Jared Dudley ... +0.33 ... .445/21.3 ... +0.15 Leandro Barbosa ... -1.30 ... .324/15.5 ... -0.42 Louis Amundson ... -2.12 ... .318/15.3 ... -0.67 Goran Dragic ... +2.77 ... .313/15.0 ... +0.87 Jarron Collins ... N/A ... .286/13.7 ... -1.29 Earl Clark ... N/A ... .044/4.3 (3) ... -0.20 Dwayne Jones ... N/A ... .033/5.0 (2) ... -0.15 Robin Lopez ... -1.52* ... .000/0.0 ... injured SUNS score: +4.46 Spurs ... T.R.U.E. ... p-PT%/p-MPG ... T-d Tim Duncan ... +6.77 ... .773/37.2 ... +5.24 George Hill ... -1.23 ...

first off, my favorite team, los san antonio spurs, beat the mighty mavericks from dallas to advance to round 2 of the 2010 nba playoffs thursday, and i could not be happier for timmy, batmanu ginosebleeee, tp, pop & the whole gang. second, i've been getting a lot of facebook chatter today asking me what happened to my pick, the mavs, because of what i said back in february. so i thought i would address the chronology here rather than hold 10 different press conferences, lol. yes, i thought the mavs made themselves the championship favorites when they acquired brendan haywood & caron butler february 13, shoring up some glaring weaknesses ... but remember, 4 days later on twitter and later at fresno beach, i changed my #1 prediction to the cleveland cavaliers once they acquired antawn jamison ... by getting j.j. hickson out of the rotation and replacing him with a top 50 player, i thought cleveland became the clear favorite. and once the spurs started getting healthy--namely, tony parker--i thought they had become a top 3 west team in march--along with the mavs & lakers--and then moved slightly ahead of dallas & los angeles in april before the playoffs ... the spurs ...

"i know, i know, i know this much is T.R.U.E." TOP 30 POINT GUARDS ... TWA ... TRUE ... MINUTES 1. Steve Nash, PHX ... 20.90 ... +11.46 ... 2632.47 2. Deron Williams, UTA ... 18.12 ... +8.88 ... 2722.18 3. Andre Miller, POR ... 12.97 ... +6.10 ... 2460.23 4. Russell Westbrook, OKC ... 11.60 ... +3.86 ... 2787.82 5. Stephen Curry, GSW ... 11.12 ... +3.35 ... 2848.23 6. Jason Kidd, DAL ... 10.32 ... +2.70 ... 2881.08 7. Chris Paul, NOR ... 10.30 ... +7.86 ... 1675.03 8. Raymond Felton, CHA ... 9.59 ... +2.88 ... 2613.07 9. Jamal Crawford, ATL ... 8.86 ... +2.74 ... 2459.98 10. Baron Davis, LAC ... 7.77 ... +1.79 ... 2483.13 11. Rajon Rondo, BOS ... 7.68 ... +0.78 ... 2924.67 12. Derrick Rose, CHI ... 6.77 ... +0.24 ... 2871.02 13. Rodney Stuckey, DET ... 6.30 ... +0.57 ... 2498.68 14. Louis Williams, PHI ... 5.70 ... +1.49 ... 1911.95 15. Aaron Brooks, HOU ... 5.54 ... -0.63 ... 2875.52 16. Beno Udrih, SAC ... 5.29 ... -0.14 ... 2438.88 17. Goran Dragic, PHX ... 5.14 ... +2.77 ... 1421.82 18. Tony Parker, SAS ... 4.79 ... +1.07 ... 1728.10 19. Chauncey Billups, DEN ... 4.77 ... -0.61 ... 2462.83 20. Brandon Jennings, MIL ... 4.73 ... -0.86 ... 2610.03 21. Kyle Lowry, HOU ...

i can't claim credit for that one ... kudos to 48 minutes of hell for headline of the week!, lol. and timmy gets credit for quote of the week on batmanu's broken-nose moment in game 3: "i had no doubt he was going to return. he has a strong nose on him." while manu ginobili gets a close second for his facebook-page comment: "i don't have a perfect nose any more" ;) ... photo via 48 minutes of hell

tim duncan's wednesday: +26, 25 points, 56.6 true shooting percentage, 17 rebounds in 36 minutes ... and one glowing jonny ludden story. oh! and speaking of spurs-positiveness, here's another story about how san antonio is getting closer to inking the second-best player in europe for next year, tiago splitter ... even more big-man help for timmy! ... photo by ronald martinez / getty images via yahoo! sports

oh, how i love the seasons: summer, fall, winter, spring & timmy time a.k.a. the nba playoffs ... get your game on!

still can't decide which was my favorite manu ginobili block this season ... this one yesterday? ... this one last month? ... or this one on halloween? ...

how good will the spurs be in the playoffs? ... with tony parker back in the lineup: a top 3 west team, just behind the mavs & lakers ... without parker: only as good as the jazz, nuggets & thunder. at least that's what ball street tells us ... check out the t.r.u.e. data along with the ball street derivatives that makes the spurs case for contending. 2009-10 nba t.r.u.e. data spurs ... t-score, 1 apm, per, pt%, mpg tim duncan ... +5, +4.90, 25.2, 63%, 31.4 antonio mcdyess ... +6, +6.29, 12.4, 41%, 20.8 richard jefferson ... +1, -0.01, 13.2, 63%, 30.8 manu ginobili ... +1, +0.60, 21.9, 53%, 27.6 tony parker ... +6, +1.80, 16.9, 50%, 31.6 george hill ... +1, -1.41, 14.5, 60%, 28.7 keith bogans ... -4, -6.15, 8.3, 41%, 20.3 dejuan blair ... 0, +0.36, 17.3, 38%, 18.5 roger mason ... -1, -2.90, 10.4, 38%, 19.0 matt bonner ... +9, +8.83, 15.9, 25%, 16.3 ball street 2010 nba playoff derivatives spurs @ projected playoff mpg ... t-score derivatives, 1 apm derivatives duncan @ 34 mpg ... +3.5, +3.5 mcdyess @ 21 mpg ... +2.6, +2.8 jefferson @ 31 mpg ... +0.6, -0.0 ginobili @30 mpg ... +0.6, +0.4 parker @34 mpg ... +4.2, +1.3 hill @ 27 mpg ... +0.6, -0.8 bogans @ 15 mpg ... ...

one of my favorite superheroes in the justice league of america was "the admiral" ... in real life, he posed as an nba hall of fame center for my san antonio spurs. but we always knew he was a superhero in disguise, no matter what uniform david robinson wore. and when superheroes say they need help, we help ... thanks to awesome spurs blogs 48 minutes of hell & pounding the rock for sending out the light-tower call for the carver academy, the school david founded in 2001 ... pinkdingo's twitter & facebook will update ya on the cause ... and make sure y'all go to the admiral challenge to help ... $3 is all it takes ... ... photo by sports illustrated

in my giddiness over the mavs-lakers game, i was neglectful of my spurs' matchup with another one of my faves, the thunder. but there's no way i could ignore manu ginobili's block on kevin durant's dunk attempt in the final minutes of a close game won by san antonio wednesday. incredible! ... bald-spot batmanu got up!! ... it's been the talk of the blogs all day. as durant himself said of manu, "he's not normal." as thunder coach scott brooks said, "he must be fun to play with." i've said all along that this san antonio team is the deepest in spurs' history ... timmy is playing at all-nba level ...and the only thing keeping san antonio from being a championship contender is that manu & tony parker haven't returned to their typical all-star levels since their injuries. well, seems like manu is slowly getting back to star status. his one-year adjusted plus-minus is +2.69 and his player efficiency rating is 20.68 ... the benchmark for all-stars in these stats is +5 and 20.00, respectively. now just waiting for tony's hip & foot & whateva else to get better so that he can possibly return to his all-star level (he's at -1.99 & 16.79 right now). (and on ...

timeless tim duncan ... it's only fitting that we give timmy "famer" status on february 2, since "groundhog day" is the nickname barkley bestowed on the san antonio spur for his consistency ... "the big fundamental" (the name shaq gave him) has been called "the greatest power forward ever" by so many that we now simply refer to tim as GPFE, for short ... even though he's been the spurs center for the last four seasons, lol ... a man so focused he was named "player of the decade" by most in the biz, and a man so psychoanalytical that he is hilariously spoofed by "the onion" on the regular ... we obviously got love for timmy too with the dozens of postings here at the beach--a love that goes waaaay back to 1994, when he was a skinny wake forest freshman teen ... who knew he'd go on to become one of the all-time greats? (actually, we did, lol ... hit this link and enter page 68). ahhh, yesss. it's timmy time at fresno beach--a place the virgin islands' native inspired with his st. croix' crucian beach cred ... so without further ado, we hereby present "fresno beach famer" ...

this is a story about a well-to-do family that takes an nba second-round draft pick into their home ... the only difference between this tale and the book/film "the blind side" is that in the nba version, tony parker & eva longoria parker are the rich fam, while $850,000 man dejuan blair is the not-exactly-homeless kid ... great story in the sunday pittsburgh post-gazette on the unique relationship between the parkers and blair ... here's a link to some vid too. ... photo by matt freed / pittsburgh post-gazette

gotta love the spurs ... play dejuan blair only 7 minutes against the lakers. then start the 20 year old the next night against the thunder so they can rest timmy ... what's he do? score 28 points & grab 21 rebounds in 31 minutes in a san antonio road victory in overtime ... that makes the 6-7, 265-pound blair the first nba rookie since timmy in 1998 to go 20/20 ... espn true hoop's kevin arnovitz with the breakdown ...

... because, as phil jackson said tuesday night, "they took our kids to school." world's greatest teammate finished with a +14, 40 minutes, 25 points, 12-19 shooting, 1-4 frees, 13 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals, 4 blocks, 2 turnovers and a happy busload of san antonio unified school district students. ... photo by billy calzada / san antonio express-news