The San Antonio Spurs and Alba Berlin are playing live on the NBA preseason schedule in Germany from the O2 World arena and the game comes from NBATV for coverage and online from NBA.com for fans to follow as the defending champions take on the German team at 2 pm ET and the matchup has Tim Duncan and Tony Parker looking to start the exhibition season with a good performance.
The Spurs open the preseason as the defending champs and they return another strong team with their core intact and that should give them the chance to have another big run this season. The team took down LeBron James and the Miami Heat with ease after losing to them the season before and now they are looking to do it again. The team led the west with 62 wins last year and they bring back their leading scorer in Parker and leading rebounder in Duncan, who is back after many thought he would retire.
The team comes back after being in the top six in points allowed and points scored per game and they also were first in the league in assists per game. That was evident during the finals with the way the team moved the ball and there wasn't much that the Heat could do to stop them. The team has Fenerbahce Ulker during their German tour next on the schedule and they are looking to get everyone through the preseason healthy.
Ettore Messina and Becky Hammon come in this season as new assistants and Hammon will have plenty of attention on her and the Spurs are bringing back 14 veterans from last season. Duncan is likely in his final season and now he gets things started in Germany and he is hoping that it ends the same way it did last season: with a championship. Parker comes back after having an amazing playoff run and the team is stacked from top to bottom once again and they should be among the best in the western conference.
The Alba team that the Spurs are facing have won eight German League titles and they have had some NBA players on the roster before the game will be packed likely with local fans and the player to watch from the German side will be Reggie Redding, who used to play at Villanova. The west will be tough again this season with San Antonio, Oklahoma City, the Clippers and Houston Rockets all looking good and the Dallas Mavericks, Trail Blazers and Suns all could be in the mix as well.
The Spurs have a busy preseason schedule and they play against the first two teams in Europe before playing against the Suns. The team has a rematch with the Heat after that and then two more home games with the Kings and the Hawks. The Spurs them face against the Houston Rockets on the road and that ends the preseason before the team tips off to defend their title.
Check here for the San Antonio Spurs and Alba Berlin live coverage.