Spurs at Kings
The San Antonio Spurs are peaking on their way to locking up the top spot in the Western Conference and have rarely been challenged during an 11-game winning streak. The Spurs will try to make it 12 straight when they visit the Sacramento Kings at the midpoint of a three-game road trip. San Antonio has won eight of its last 11 games - including four straight - by double figures while putting its depth on display.
Tony Parker has not played more than 34 minutes in nine games since returning from various injuries and Tim Duncan is on a similar minutes restriction thanks to the superb play of the Spurs supporting cast. The Kings, who nearly knocked off San Antonio on the road last month, are not blessed with quite as much depth but have enough at the top to give good teams fits. Isaiah Thomas posted his first career triple-double as he, Rudy Gay and DeMarcus Cousins each scored 24 points in a 117-111 overtime win over the playoff-bound Washington Wizards on Tuesday.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (San Antonio), CSN California (Sacramento)
ABOUT THE SPURS (51-16): San Antonio improved its league-best road record to 25-8 with a 125-109 destruction of the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday as Parker put up 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting to lead seven scorers in double figures. The Spurs are injury-free at the moment, and the relatively easy nature of most of their latest wins has allowed coach Gregg Popovich to explore different combinations and give plenty of minutes to reserves like Patty Mills and Boris Diaw. Manu Ginobili is averaging 14.8 points on 53.6 percent shooting during the winning streak and combines with Marco Belinelli to add strong 3-point shooting to the reserve corps.
ABOUT THE KINGS (24-44): Sacramento is committed to finding out what 2013 first-round draft pick Ben McLemore can do down the stretch of this lost season, and the rookie guard logged 50 minutes in the win over the Wizards on Tuesday. McLemore has been used for at least 30 minutes in four of the last seven contests and is searching for some consistency with his shot. The 21-year-old Kansas product went 5-for-17 from the floor Tuesday and is 1-for-14 from beyond the arc over the last three games, lowering his season 3-point percentage to 30.8.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Cousins, who sat out the 95-93 loss at San Antonio on Feb. 1, put together his fifth straight double-double with 24 points and 14 rebounds Tuesday.
2. The Spurs have taken eight straight in the series and 10 in a row in Sacramento.
3. McLemore is averaging 4.5 points on 28.6 percent shooting in two games against San Antonio.