"For the first three months of the season, everything had been coming up golden for the Spurs.

They were playing well, they were frighteningly healthy, they had the best record in the NBA.

With 4:49 left in the second quarter of Monday's 113-102 victory at Golden State, as Tim Duncan — aka "The Franchise" — writhed on the Oracle Arena floor clutching his left knee, it seemed all the good work the Spurs had done to date was about to be as worthless as Confederate paper.

"For a moment," Manu Ginobili said, "we thought it was really bad."

Except, it wasn't. Continuing what has been a charmed season for the Spurs, Duncan's injury turned out to be nothing but a hyperflexed left knee. He returned for the second half, after assuring worried coach Gregg Popovich that he was fine, and the Spurs did what they always did against the Warriors.

They rolled. All the way to their 10th consecutive victory over Golden State, and the third this season by double figures.

Ginobili shook off a recent shooting slump for 20 points and Tony Parker chipped in 18 points and 11 assists, but it was the bench that carried the day as the Spurs improved to 38-7.

The Spurs' reserves outscored their Warriors counterparts 46-14, helping to turn a nip-and-tuck first half into something decidedly more comfortable. For a frightening few minutes in the first half, the Spurs were anything but comfortable.

After the game, the 33-year-old Duncan seemed almost sheepish about causing such consternation. He is expected to play Wednesday when the Spurs finish their three-game pre-rodeo trip road trip at Utah."