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Quick summary of opening day in Southwest Division

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We know it’s only day two of the 66-game NBA season, but here is a quick recap of how the first LOtwo days have gone for the San Antonio Spurs and their division rivals, the Dallas Mavericks, the Houston Rockets, the Memphis Grizzlies, and the New Orleans Hornets.

The 2011 NBA champions Mavericks have already started the early season on a bad note after being beaten by the Miami Heat on Christmas Day when the Mavericks received their rings. Then the Mavericks followed by getting clobbered again at home 115-93 to the Denver Nuggets on Monday night. At one point, the Mavericks were down by 30 points.

Down south, the Spurs got their partial revenge against their division/playoff foe the Grizzlies as the Spurs used defense, youth, and a healthy Manu Ginobili to defeat the Grizzlies by 13 points, 95-82 in San Antonio.

The Houston Rockets were in Orlando as the Magic defeated the Rockets 104-95 behind 23 points from Hedo Turkoglu and 21 points by center Dwight Howard. Samuel Dalembert made his debut with the Rockets by scoring 10 points, grabbing five rebounds, and blocking three shots off of the bench.

After trading franchise point guard Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Clippers, the new look Hornets responded by defeating the Phoenix Suns on the road 85-84 as the Hornets were led by newly acquired guard Eric Gordon’s 20 points.

All five teams will have Tuesday off then the Grizzlies will open the Fed Ex Forum with a rematch of their second round opponent, the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday. The Spurs will host former Hornet Chris Paul and the “super team” Los Angeles Clippers as well on Wednesday. The Hornets will be hosting the Boston Celtics for their home opener on Wednesday.

On Thursday, the Mavericks will play in Oklahoma City where there’s a good chance the Mavericks could open the season 0-3 as Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook have looked unstoppable early on. The Spurs will play the Rockets in Houston in their first back-to-back game also on Thursday as they get their first glimpse of Dalembert in a Rocket uniform.

Stay alert with Project Spurs on Wednesday as we’ll have a gameday preview for the Spurs-Clippers game as well as pregame locker room material from both teams as Michael DeLeon and I cover the Clippers’ first trip to San Antonio this season.

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Paul is an editor, writer and content manager for ProjectSpurs.com (@ProjectSpurs) and AnalyzingTheLeague.com (@ATLeague_NBA). Paul is also the host of the Spurscast (@TheSpurscast). Paul has been a credentialed media member covering the San Antonio Spurs and NBA since 2011. Paul has been featured on numerous radio, tv, online and podcast shows.