Hornets at Spurs
San Antonio Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan was among the notable snubs when All-Star rosters were announced on Thursday despite posting one of his best games of the season in a win on Wednesday. DeRozan will try to lead the Spurs to a second consecutive victory when they host the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday.
San Antonio, which embarks on its eight-game rodeo road trip following Saturday's contest, will not have an All-Star for the first time since 1997 - breaking the longest streak in the league - with DeRozan and fellow All-Star regular LaMarcus Aldridge both among those left out this season. DeRozan scored a season-high 36 points at Chicago on Monday but missed a late free throw that would have forced overtime and redeemed himself on Wednesday, when he scored 38 points - his most in a Spurs uniform - as San Antonio snapped a three-game slide with a 127-120 win over the Utah Jazz. The Hornets are losers of nine of their last 10 games and opened the two-game trip with a 121-107 setback at Washington on Thursday. "You can't teach pride and physicality," Charlotte coach James Borrego told reporters after watching his team get outrebounded 65-45 by the Wizards. "They have to figure that out. If they want to win a game, if we want to win a game, they have to go get rebounds. Sometimes, that's boxing out. Sometimes, that digging one out. Sometimes, that's presence out there figuring out a way to get a rebound. That's the bottom line."
TIME: 9 p.m. ET. TV: FS Southeast, KENS
ABOUT THE HORNETS (16-32): Starting power forward PJ Washington scored 15 points on 7-of-10 shooting on Thursday but totaled one rebound in 23 minutes while reserve power forward Marvin Williams failed to grab a board in 16 minutes off the bench. "We talked about the boards at halftime and before the game," Borrego told reporters. "A lack of physicality, presence and pride about getting a rebound out there. We didn't deserve to win tonight." Point guard Terry Rozier tied for the team lead with seven rebounds on Thursday and scored 21 points on 8-of-21 shooting.
ABOUT THE SPURS (21-26): San Antonio was without Aldridge in each of the last two games due to a thumb injury but shot 56.1 percent from the floor against the Jazz and got a big lift from the bench, which placed four scorers in double figures. "We've shown how good we can be when we are all on the same page, when we are all engaged, and we are all clear on the game plan and execute it," reserve point guard Patty Mills told reporters. "And sometimes we don't." Mills led the reserves with 18 points in Wednesday's triumph and averaged 21.5 points over the last two games after scoring in single digits in each of the previous four contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Spurs F Rudy Gay went 0-of-6 from 3-point range on Wednesday and is 1-of-13 in his last six games.
2. Hornets SF Miles Bridges scored 23 points on Thursday after averaging 7.6 over the previous five contests.
3. Charlotte swept the two-game series last season, earning a 108-93 victory in San Antonio.