Looking ahead in the NBA: Chicago at San Antonio on Wednesday

By Ben Bolch

Feb. 25, 2012 12 AM PT

Looking ahead

CHICAGO AT SAN ANTONIO: Wednesday at 6 p.m. PST. TV: ESPN.

It would have been laughable to predict this as a possible Finals preview a few weeks ago. Now it appears the joke is on the rest of the Western Conference. The Spurs got Manu Ginobili back following a long injury layoff and won 12 of 13 games (even while losing Ginobili again to a strained oblique muscle) and moved into the top spot in the Southwest Division. Though Chicago’s rise to the top of the Central Division was widely expected, the Bulls showed some grit while persevering through Derrick Rose’s five-game absence caused by back spasms. Chicago is only a half a game behind Miami for the best record in the Eastern Conference.

— Ben Bolch

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Ben Bolch

Ben Bolch has been a Los Angeles Times staff writer since 1999. He is serving his second stint as the UCLA beat writer, which seems fitting since he has covered almost every sports beat except hockey and horse racing. Bolch is also the author of the recently released book “100 Things UCLA Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” He previously covered UCLA basketball from 2010-11 before going on to cover the NBA and the Clippers for five years. He happily traded in gobs of hotel points and airline miles to return to cover UCLA basketball and football in the summer of 2016. Bolch was once selected by NBA TV’s “The Starters” as the “Worst of the Week” after questioning their celebrity journalism-style questions at an NBA All-Star game and considers it one of his finer moments.

Looking ahead in the NBA: Chicago at San Antonio on Wednesday

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