Warriors at Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs have enjoyed plenty of success in the Tim Duncan era, but never anything like the run they are on right now. The Spurs will attempt to extend their franchise-record winning streak to 19 straight games when they host the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday. The run has allowed San Antonio to open up a nice cushion on Oklahoma City for the top spot in the West while teams like the Warriors fight at the bottom of the bracket.
Golden State put some distance between itself and the scrum at the bottom of the West by pulling out a 122-120 overtime victory at Dallas on Tuesday on Stephen Curry’s game-winner at the buzzer. The triumph left the sixth-place Warriors two games clear of Memphis and Phoenix tied for seventh. The Spurs have not even had to put their best foot forward to knock off Golden State this season, sitting Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan in a two-point road win Dec. 19 and leaving Ginobili and Duncan on the bench again for a 99-90 win at Golden State on March 22.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, CSN Bay Area (Golden State), FSN Southwest (San Antonio)
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (46-28): Golden State stole a 100-91 victory at the Spurs during the second round of the playoffs last spring but has not won a regular-season game in San Antonio since Feb. 14, 1997. Curry sat out a 76-74 setback in San Antonio on Nov. 8, and the Warriors will be without at least Andrew Bogut (pelvic contusion) and possibly David Lee (hamstring) on Wednesday. Jermaine O’Neal capably filled the gap in the middle Tuesday with 20 points, including the tying dunk in overtime before his blocked shot at the other end set up Curry’s shot.
ABOUT THE SPURS (58-16): San Antonio sits 3 1/2 games clear of the Thunder with eight games left and will visit Oklahoma City on Thursday to kick off a stretch with three of four on the road. The Spurs have won the last three by an average of 24.3 points and destroyed the Indiana Pacers 103-77 on the road on Monday. “We’ve never set any numerical goals,” coach Gregg Popovich told reporters. “We’ve never set goals to win a division or X number of games in a row or anything like that. We just talk about trying to be the best team we can be come playoff time.”
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Popovich was named Western Conference Coach of the Month for March after guiding his team to a 16-0 mark.
2. Golden State G Jordan Crawford matched his high since joining the team with 19 points Tuesday, six more than the previous three games combined.
3. San Antonio F Kawhi Leonard is averaging 14 points in the last three games and is 6-for-11 from 3-point range in that span.