Duncan knows Spurs' defense can improve

In their past three games, the San Antonio Spurs have allowed opponents to shoot 49.6% against lowly teams such as the Minnesota Timberwolves, Dallas Mavericks, and Cleveland Cavaliers. None of those teams will be postseason bound (including the Mavericks who are trailing by four games behind the eighth seed). These are opponents the Spurs should be handling easily with their depth and versatility on both ends of the floor. No one can explain why the team is struggling on defense, including their cornerstone player in Tim Duncan. "It's not been great and I don't know why", said Duncan after the team's narrow win over Cleveland. "The effort is there, I think we're playing hard. I think we're just giving up too many straight drives to the rim. We have to find a way to counter that and a way to clean that up." With the exception of Tony Parker, the team is relatively healthy. Cory Joseph has filled in nicely to manage the ga...