Spurs at Rockets
THE STORY: San Antonio will try to avoid its first six-game losing streak since April 10-20, 1997, when they travel to Houston on Friday night. Of greater importance, the Spurs will try to keep its suddenly loose grip on the top spot in the West. Houston is three games out of the final playoff spot with seven remaining.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest, KTXH
ABOUT THE ROCKETS (39-36): Houston has no margin for error as it
tries to sneak into the playoffs. Houston trails Memphis by three games.
The Rockets play five of their final seven games at home and have won
seven of eight home games since the All Star break. They still believe
they can make the playoffs despite long odds. “It doesn't change
anything,” Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. “We've been down two, three
games for the last week and a half. We've said there is nothing we can
do about the other teams; we can only win. We lost two out of three on
this trip. Got to go home, try to get San Antonio and see what happens.”
ABOUT THE SPURS (57-18): The good news for San Antonio is that it still leads the Southwest Division by four games over Dallas. The bad news is that the Los Angeles Lakers have closed to 2 1/2 games for the West’s top seed. The Spurs got back Tim Duncan (sprained ankle) and were at full strength but still dropped their fifth in a row, 107-97, to Boston on Thursday. Duncan had 20 points and 13 rebounds. The Spurs shot just 39 of 90. San Antonio has never lost six in a row since drafting Duncan in 1997. “Of course we want to be No. 1. We don’t want to give it away just because we like being underdogs,” Manu Ginobili said. “We want to win it. We put ourselves in an unbelievable situation.”
WHO’S HOT/WHO’S NOT: Richard Jefferson has averaged 16.7 points and is shooting 69.2 percent (18 of 26) in three games against the Rockets this season. Kyle Lowry averaged 19.8 points and 8.1 assists in March, the best of his five-year career.
KEY STATISTIC: San Antonio is 17-1 when Jefferson scores at least 15 points.
SEASON SERIES: This is the fourth and final meeting of the season, with the Spurs looking for a sweep. San Antonio has won four in a row and leads the overall series 92-72.
KEY INJURIES: SAN ANTONIO: F Antonio McDyess (ankle). HOUSTON: G Terrence Williams (abdominal); G Kyle Lowry (foot).
LAST WORD: “It happens to everybody. And this is about the worst time it could happen, at the end of the year. If it has to happen, you want it to happen 30 games in so you can get back and recover. So we got to step on it.” – Gregg Popovich on the Spurs’ slump.