Nothing But Net, a weekly look around the league, is posted Thursdays by noon.

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When the talk gets around to the truly great sports dynasties of the modern era — heck, extend that to almost any era — there should be one franchise that stands head and shoulders above all the others.

The San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs are, and should be, the gold standard for the NBA and all the other leagues. They are once again distinguishing themselves at precisely the right time for another championship run.

Consider:

They have won 11 straight games, the longest current winning streak in the league.

They have assumed first place overall in the league, a game and a half ahead of the Indiana Pacers going into Thursday night action.

They are a league-best 13-1 since the all-star break.

They were the first team to hit the 50-win plateau this season.

Another 50-win season is the 15th straight season that Spurs have eclipsed that total.

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LIVE AT NOON: Chat with Doug Smith

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There are few things certain in sports; one is that it is foolish to write the Spurs off as so many do in the middle of each marathon regular season.

One of the main reasons they are where they are today is that they are finally back to full health after a season in which a handful of regulars have missed substantial amounts of time.

Not coincidentally, the current 11-game winning streak has come with the return of Kawhi Leonard from a broken right hand.

The Spurs are unbeaten since he’s been back, his defence has been a huge boost and he is a perfect offensive complementary piece to Tony Parker, Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili.

And after having regular rotation players miss a total of 83 games this season, the Spurs don’t have a single player injured right now and with the playoffs starting in less than a month, they have played themselves right to the top of the list of championship favourites.

Of course, coach Gregg Popovich downplayed the importance of reaching 50 wins in a season again.

“I don’t really care, to be honest with you,” he told reporters. “You all have to have things to write about, I guess. It’s better than losing 50 but we are thinking about other things.

“We’ve just had a great group of guys for a long time, I guess, and that is the reason we have been able to win. Records and that sort of thing, streaks, aren’t really on anybody’s mind.”

Anybody except fans who appreciate sustained greatness, that is.

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Who’s hot?

New York Knicks

They got a significant emotional bump this week with the hiring of Phil Jackson as the basketball major domo and have won seven straight as the hottest team in the Eastern Conference.

How galling must it be then for the Knicks to realize the terrible play in the first three quarters of the season still leaves them four games out of a playoff spot with just 14 games left in the regular season?

Who’s not?

Dallas Mavericks

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It’s been an up-and-down season since the start for the Mavs, who are just average when they need to be better for the stretch run.

Going 5-5 in their last 10 games and losing games like the one to Minnesota on Wednesday night isn’t enhancing their chances at hanging on to the eighth Western Conference playoff spot any easier with hard-charging Phoenix breathing down their necks.

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The Raptors this week

Friday vs. Oklahoma City; Sunday vs. Atlanta; Tuesday at Cleveland; Wednesday at Boston

Quite aside from the games themselves, the big news is the return of The Raptor on Sunday.

But for the actual stuff on the court, it’s a challenging week for sure for the Raptors. The Thunder may be finishing a back-to-back but they have been on a roll of late and Kevin Durant is scoring with shocking consistency, the Hawks showed this week they can be a tough matchup with the speedy Jeff Teague and road back-to-backs are always difficult.

No one’s sure when either Jonas Valanciunas or Patrick Patterson will be back so that’s a variable to take into consideration in a week in which three wins would likely be a solid accomplishment.

Going 2-2 wouldn’t be a killer but 1-3 and they’ll be looking hard over their shoulders to see just where the Brooklyn Nets are.

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CanCon

Readers have been inundated this week with stories of the plethora of Canadian men in the NCAA tournament and the substantial role so many of them play with their teams and rightfully so.

But there’s a whole other tournament about to start and some notice should be paid to the 11 Canadian women who will take part in that event.

The two to watch most closely are national team standout Natalie Achonwa as she finishes an outstanding career at Notre Dame with the 32-0 Irish a big national championship contender.

And Ruth Hamblin, seen as a key piece of the national team program, helped get Oregon State into the tournament for the first time since 1996.

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Around the league

Commissioner Adam Silver suggested this week at a business conference that small advertisements on uniforms are coming sooner rather than later. In the current economic climate of trying to “monetize” every aspect of the game, it just makes sense. There was no firm timetable . . . Wary of the perception of conflict now that Phil Jackson runs the basketball operations of the Knicks and his fiancee, Jeannie Buss, is in charge of business operations for the Los Angeles Lakers, league officials met with both parties to clearly spell out expectations and rules this week . . . Four more to go! The Philadelphia 76ers have lost 22 straight games, which in itself is some special accomplishment, and are just four shy of the all-time record of 26 straight losses suffered by the 2010-11 Cleveland Cavaliers. Toronto’s longest losing streak in history is 19 . . . Things aren’t going particularly well for either of the two top teams in the Eastern Conference. The Miami Heat are 5-6 in March and lost in Boston on Wednesday, prompting Dwyane Wade to say: “I think the jury’s still out on this team.” The Indiana Pacers lost to New York on Wednesday and are 5-5 in their last 10. Not sure if that creates more hope for Eastern Conference playoff teams but it does show a bit of vulnerability . . . Up and down season? Indeed. According to NBA stats, the New York Knicks are the first team to win at least seven straight games after losing seven or more in a row since the 2003-04 Golden State Warriors . . . The Brooklyn Nets have been the league’s hottest team since Jan. 1 and have rattled off 10 straight wins at home. That’s the good. The bad? Kevin Garnett, who has been out two weeks with back spasms and issues, will be re-evaluated on the weekend and there’s no return date in sight . . . Hang on to those thoughts that Steve Nash’s season is over. Lakers coach Mike D’Antoni held out hope this week that the two-time MVP might return for at least a bit of the remainder of the regular season, a direct contrast to what was expected two weeks ago. “It’s still a possibility,” D’Antoni said. “We have to see where he is physically. . . . We’ll have to see some practices and see how it goes.”

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Hey, remember when?

A trip to Cleveland near the end of a regular season always evokes memories of a season-ending game there to shut down the 2003-04 season. Neither the Raptors nor the Cavs were going anywhere except the lottery and it was one of the dreariest games in history, with the Cavs out-bumbling the Raptors to lose. It was a lose-win situation for the Cavs, who went on to get LeBron James in that summer’s lottery; it was a stressful night for those who drove from Toronto to cover the game since everyone had to hustle back early the next morning to be back in time to get the news that the Raptors and Lenny Wilkens had “agreed to part ways” and end his tenure as the team’s head coach.