Spurs news and notes: Spurs-Mavericks, Kobe upset and more

• Want to win a pair of free tickets to a San Antonio Spurs home game next month? Of course you do! All you have to do it follow @projectspurstiq on Twitter to enter. Easy huh?

• The Spurs and the Dallas Mavericks will face off tomorrow night for the second time this season. However the Mavericks might be coming into the contest without their main gun, Dirk Nowitzki:

But in addition to Dallas undertaking this assignment while looking up at San Antonio in the standings, they’ll likely do so with Dirk Nowitzki sitting outside the ropes.

“Ohh… Thursday might be pushing it,” he said on Mavs Facebook late Tuesday night, reflecting on his sprained knee. “I don’t know about Thursday. We’ll see. I’ve been a quick healer all my life… but we’ll see.” (source foxsportssouthwest.com)

• Speaking of the Spurs and Mavericks, the debate rages on on which of these two great teams is the best and NBA.com tackled this debate. Here is an excerpt:

 David Aldridge: I love the Spurs right now.  (Emphasis on “right now.” See Question/Answer #1.) What they’re doing now that they haven’t been able to do, maybe ever during their run, is avoid those long scoreless streaks that put so much pressure on their defense to hold everyone under 90 every night. That’s hard to do in this era, with the rules and Duncan’s declining effectiveness. I know Pop thinks the D is mediocre, and maybe it is by San Antonio’s standards. But it can still be pretty good, especially if George Hill can stay healthy.

Steve Aschburner: Spurs. What we’re seeing in San Antonio isn’t just a start to the season anymore, it’s the season, period. That makes what the Spurs are doing all the more real, and it puts more onus on them to make sure this leads to something satisfying at the end. Beyond that, I just think they’re built better for the postseason and the competition out West. When a San Antonio team can win getting only modest (or less) production out of Tim Duncan, that team has plenty in reserve and ready options. Dallas is doing a great job, but we’ve been forced to choose and I choose Spurs.

• Last night’s game between the Spurs and Los Angeles Lakers lived up to all the pregame hype and Spurs fans were in full force in the AT&T Center as were Lakers fans:

Lisa Kirsch and her mother, Kathy Gerlach, stopped at a restaurant for supper before going to the first Spurs-Lakers game of the season Tuesday night at the AT&T Center.

• Now what did Lakers’ Kobe Bryant have to say about the loss to the Spurs? Check it out:

• The Spurs will be helping the San Antonio community once again this time in combating child hunger in San Antonio:

The Johnson Key Club is partnering with the Spurs to combat child hunger through a program called the Team Up Challenge. The program encourages clubs and classes to perform service-learning projects that improve the community in one of five areas: education, environment, health and wellness, arts and culture and uniformed services.

• Remember that cable issue in San Antonio which could possibly mean Spurs fans may lose out watching a few games? Well it’s still not settled:

Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc., engaged in a battle with Time Warner Cable Inc. over programming costs, announced Tuesday that negotiations have ceased, which could cause local Fox and CW programming on the cable television provider to “go dark” Saturday.