Spurs at Hornets
The San Antonio Spurs will be without veteran power forward LaMarcus Aldridge for the fourth straight contest when they visit the Charlotte Hornets on Tuesday. The seven-time All-Star injured his shoulder against the Utah Jazz on Feb. 21 and played 21 minutes in San Antonio's following game but hasn't played since.
The Spurs missed Aldridge in Monday's 116-111 home loss to the Indiana Pacers as they slipped to nine games under .500 as well as falling four games behind the Memphis Grizzlies, who hold the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference. "It's all about being competitive and executing and you have to do it for more of the 48 minutes than your opponent and we didn't do anything in the second quarter to help ourselves," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich told reporters after the team's eighth loss in 11 games. Charlotte won five of seven games before dropping a 93-85 decision to the Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday to drop to 9-19 at home. "Heck of an effort defensively," Hornets coach James Borrego told reporters afterward. "That's a hell of a team over there offensively. I thought we made them work for everything and we made them work every possession."
TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: FS Southwest, FS Southeast
ABOUT THE SPURS (25-34): Power forward Trey Lyles has scored 20 points in each of the past two games and is 16-of-30 from the field during the stretch, including 6-of-11 from 3-point range. "He's steady. He has played well night after night," Popovich told reporters. "We need to get more consistent play out of more players." San Antonio is also playing without reserve big man Jakob Poeltl, who sprained his right knee in Saturday's victory over the Orlando Magic.
ABOUT THE HORNETS (21-39): Despite being 5 1/2 games out of an Eastern Conference playoff spot with 22 games remaining, Charlotte isn't giving up and is viewing the good effort against NBA-best Milwaukee as fuel to make another push. "It was a tough loss for us, but I think we competed and we should be proud of ourselves," forward Willy Hernangomez told reporters. "When we play hard, I think we can beat or at least can compete with any team in the league. I think it gives us a lot of confidence, a lot of trust in what we do.” Guard Devonte' Graham scored 17 points against the Bucks but injured an ankle and will sit out against the Spurs.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Spurs outscored the Hornets 64-27 in the second half while posting a 114-90 home win on Feb. 1.
2. Charlotte PG Terry Rozier scored 13 points against the Bucks after averaging 22 over the previous two games.
3. San Antonio PG Patty Mills made six 3-pointers and tallied 24 points against Indiana, equaling his combined scoring production over the previous three games.