Spurs at Suns
THE STORY: The Phoenix Suns have made a strong charge to get into playoff contention, but now they will have to navigate a grueling portion of their schedule to keep climbing in the standings. The Suns host the red-hot San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday before beginning a stretch where they play eight of 10 games on the road. Phoenix has gone 11-4 since the All-Star break and is 1 1/2 games out of eighth place in the Western Conference.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FS Southwest (Spurs), FS Arizona (Suns)
ABOUT THE SPURS (33-14): Little seems to faze San Antonio, which has won four straight games and seven of eight. The Spurs just completed an impressive sweep of a back-to-back-to-back that included 17-point home wins over Dallas and Philadelphia despite having their core three of Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan each sit out one game. With three players sidelined for each of the past two games, undersized center DeJuan Blair stepped up with 23- and 19-point performances.
ABOUT THE SUNS (25-24): Phoenix has won six of eight to inch into postseason contention. The Suns salvaged a split of a four-game road trip by winning the final two games, including a 108-83 mauling at Cleveland on Sunday. Center Marcin Gortat is coming off 23- and 22-point outings, his first back-to-back 20-point games since before the All-Star break. Top draft pick Markieff Morris, perhaps buoyed by Kansas' run to the Final Four, scored a season-high 22 points against Cleveland.
BUZZER BEATERS:
1. San Antonio had not won three games in three nights since March 1978.
2. Phoenix has won 10 of its last 12 games at home.
3. The Spurs have won four of the last five meetings, including an 11-point home win in January.