Regardless of record, the Spurs should be favored to win the NBA title

     The San Antonio Spurs have now won nine straight games and only are half a game back of the #3 seeded Houston Rockets. While the Golden State Warriors have rightfully stolen the show for the regular season, the San Antonio Spurs appear poised to steal the show in the playoffs and repeat as NBA champions.

     What is especially alarming about their winning streak is that they've beaten some really good teams and in the process gained some serious ground in the standings. The Spurs have beaten the Thunder, Mavericks, Grizzlies, Warriors, and Rockets over these last nine games, and as a result look likely to have home court advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

     The only thing that other teams in the West could hang their hat on before this streak began was that the Spurs would likely have to go on the road to win every series they played. Not that the Spurs can't win a series without home court advantage, but having to win four straight series' without home court advantage is too tall of an order for even the best of NBA teams.

      But now that the Spurs look likely to enter the playoffs with a really good seed, there really is no reason to pick against them. They are playing really good basketball, beating really good teams, and seem to be peaking at the right time. The only thing that can stand in the way of the Spurs and another NBA title is injuries. Tony Parker has experienced some tightness in his Achilles, which is scary for the Spurs, but so far he appears to be ok. So long as nothing catastrophic happens to Parker or any other key member on this Spurs team, they have to be considered the favorite to come out of the West and win the NBA championship.

     We would be fools to doubt their ability to win it all after seeing how they torched the Heat less than one year ago. I'm not saying the Warriors can't take out the Spurs or that they shouldn't have confidence to beat the Spurs, because they should. But if we are using history as a guide, we have to look at how the Spurs are playing right now as an indicator that they are likely to come out of the West and demolish whichever team it is that they face in the NBA Finals.

---Ben Parker: follow me on twitter @nba_lord