Spurs at Thunder
The San Antonio Spurs are trying to put together a stretch drive that will lead them to their 23rd consecutive postseason appearance and started out strong by earning an impressive win at Utah in their first game after the All-Star break. The Spurs will try to make it two in a row at teams in front of them in the Western Conference when they visit the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday.
San Antonio dropped the first five of its eight-game rodeo road trip before earning a 114-106 win at the Thunder in its final game before the All-Star break and looked just as strong on Friday, forcing 17 turnovers while placing six scorers in double figures in the 113-104 triumph over the Jazz. "To do it on the road, in this building, against one of the best teams, it was huge for us to get this win coming out of the break and give us a chance to close this trip the right way," Spurs shooting guard DeMar DeRozan, who collected 18 points and a team-high seven assists in Friday's win, told reporters. Oklahoma City is tied for sixth in the West with the Dallas Mavericks, 9 1/2 games clear of 10th-place San Antonio, and responded to its loss to the Spurs on Feb. 11 by winning at New Orleans two days later and came out of the break strong with a 113-101 triumph over the Denver Nuggets on Friday. "The guys have been hearing me harp on how important these games are coming out of the break because some teams try to warm up into it," Thunder All-Star point guard Chris Paul told reporters. "We don't have that benefit. We've got to come out. There're only 27 games left. It's the home stretch."
TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: FS Southeast, FS Oklahoma
ABOUT THE SPURS (24-31): San Antonio point guard Dejounte Murray scored a career-high 25 points in the win at Oklahoma City prior to the break and was nearly as strong after the break on Friday, when he scored a team-high 23 points on 10-of-16 shooting to go with seven rebounds and four steals. "I'm playing all right," Murray told reporters. "I always feel like there is room to improve. I feel like I could do a lot better. But at the end of the day, I just want to win." Murray knocked down his lone 3-point attempt on Friday while shooting guard Bryn Forbes went 4-of-6 from beyond the arc to improve to 19-of-35 over the last six contests.
ABOUT THE THUNDER (34-22): Oklahoma City placed seven scorers in double figures on Friday, led by Paul's 29 points, and got one of its strongest performances from center Steven Adams. The veteran New Zealand native, who collected 10 points, 10 rebounds and a season-high four steals in the loss to the Spurs on Feb. 11, matched that season-best with four more steals on Friday and pushed to 19 points and 17 rebounds in the victory to mark his third consecutive double-double. "I thought Steven played a phenomenal game and he was good all the way around," Thunder coach Billy Donovan told reporters. "He was good on offense, he was good defensively, he was good rebounding, and he stayed down."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Spurs PG Patty Mills went 3-of-11 from the floor on Friday, snapping a string of four straight games shooting 50 percent or better.
2. Thunder SG Luguentz Dort scored 11 points on Friday to reach double figures for the first time this month.
3. San Antonio took two of the first three meetings this season and five of the last seven.