Here are five observations of the San Antonio Spurs:

1. The Spurs have left the cavernous 35,000-seat Alamodome for their new, intimate, 18,500-seat SBC Center. While the Spurs won 73 percent of their games in the Alamodome, they expect to have their first real home-court edge since the days of the compact HemisFair Arena and their legendary Baseline Bum suppporters. For one thing, the seats in the $190 million SBC Center are closer to the court than in the Alamdome. "They've always had good fans in San Antonio," said the Knicks' Kurt Thomas, who played in the SBC Center during the preseason. "But you couldn't hear them in the Alamodome. That was a football stadium. Now the fans can interact. That's good for them." And bad for opponents.

	Spurs rookie Emanuel Ginobili doesn't play like a typical foreign-born baller.

2. The Spurs are looking to get big contributions from rookie Emanuel "Manu" Ginobli, a rookie from Argentina. Long-time Spurs VP Russ Bookbinder believes that when all is said and done, only Tim Duncan and David Robinson will have made a bigger impact in their inaugural seasons than Ginobli promises to make. Ginobli might be a foreign-born player, but scouts say he has more toughness and gets to the basket better than most international players. "He's not a typical foreign guy, putting up perimeter shots; he's got toughness and he can get to the hole," one Eastern Conference scout said. "But unlike foreign players like (Peja) Stojakovic, his outside shot needs work."

3. It's the last hurrah for Robinson, who is playing his 14th and final NBA season for the Spurs. Back problems have slowed Robinson down the past few years, but he was able to get his championship ring in 1999, thanks to the arrival of Duncan. Robinson, the 1995 MVP, is a sure-fire Hall of Famer. For the 12 years from 1990, his first season, through 2001, he was voted to All-NBA teams 10 times (first-team All-NBA four times, second-team twice and third-team four times). His stats would have been even gaudier if he hadn't had to sit out his first two seasons while fulfilling a military commitment to the Navy.

4. While everyone is trying to come up with a way to derail the Lakers, the Spurs have had a real "Kobe Bryant problem" in the playoffs the past two seasons. Two years ago during the Lakers' sweep of the Spurs in the conference finals, Bryant's shooting and all-around play drew comparisons (from Phil Jackson, no less) to Michael Jordan. So last season the Spurs brought in defensive specialist Bruce Bowen for the express purpose of guarding Bryant in the playoffs. But Bryant still dominated -- averaging 26 points, 5.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists in 43.8 minutes per game -- while hitting the game-winning shot with 5.1 seconds left in Game 4.

5. Duncan will try to become the first repeat-winner of the MVP since Jordan in 1991-1992. Since then, eight players have captured the award, including two-time winners Jordan (1996 and 1998) and Karl Malone (1997 and 1999). In capturing his first MVP title last year, Duncan averaged 25.5 points (fifth in the league) on 50.8 percent shooting (ninth). He also averaged 12.7 rebounds (second), 2.48 blocks (fourth) and 40.6 minutes (sixth) per game.

Mitch Lawrence, who covers the NBA for the New York Daily News, writes a regular NBA column for ESPN.com.