Spurs at Pacers
Monday's game between the San Antonio Spurs and host Indiana Pacers may be a matchup between conference leaders, but make no mistake: the teams are headed in vastly different directions. San Antonio comes into this one on a franchise record-tying 17-game winning streak and will look to wrap up the second unbeaten complete month in franchise history. The Spurs will look to extend their run against a Pacers team that has lost four of its last five games.
San Antonio's incredible hot streak has allowed it to build a three-game lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the race for the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, and with just nine games remaining for both teams it would take a major collapse for the Spurs to not finish on top. But Gregg Popovich only needs to look to the other sideline for proof it can happen. The Pacers lead Miami by one game, and will face the Heat in a pivotal showdown April 11.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBA TV, FSN Southwest (San Antonio), FSN Indiana
ABOUT THE SPURS (57-16): It's one thing for San Antonio to own the league's best record; it's another altogether for the Spurs to be so productive despite ranking 20th in the NBA in payroll. At approximately $63 million, the Spurs - through Saturday - have spent roughly $1.11 million per victory, well ahead of the runner-up Houston Rockets ($1.18 million per win). Head coach Gregg Popovich told the San Antonio News-Express: "(General manager R.C. Buford) and his group work very hard at trying to be as frugal as we can possibly yet put a product on the floor that everybody will be proud of."
ABOUT THE PACERS (52-22): Indiana is fourth on the payroll-dollars-per-victory chart at $1.29 million, but could use some extra cash to buy an offense. Indiana shot just over 37 percent in Sunday's 90-76 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and has surpassed the 80-point mark just once in the previous five games - an 84-83 win over Miami that makes up Indiana's slim lead over the Heat. "We're losing games at an alarming rate to teams that are inferior to us," power forward David West said. "We can't figure out a way to perform better. We're kind of looking for answers right now."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Indiana's 111-100 win Dec. 7 snapped its 11-game losing streak against the Spurs.
2. Pacers SF Paul George is shooting 31 percent his previous eight games.
3. San Antonio last won 17 straight games in 1995-96.