Spurs at Trail Blazers
The San Antonio Spurs and Portland Trail Blazers ran into hiccups last week but regrouped over the weekend and each will try to continue those winning ways when they meet Monday in Portland. The Spurs are coming off a stretch of five games against losing teams but only managed a 3-2 record. The Trail Blazers lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday then fell to the Chicago Bulls two nights later before finishing their five-game road trip with a win Saturday over the Indiana Pacers.
Spurs point guard Tony Parker, who leads the team in scoring and assists, has been battling a hamstring injury that’s kept him out three of the last four games. One of the best players for Portland is its point guard, Damian Lillard, and that makes Parker’s presence especially important. Portland leading scorer LaMarcus Aldridge has played well against the Spurs in his career, averaging 19.8 points while shooting 55.7 percent from the field - his highest percentage against any opponent.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (San Antonio), CSN Northwest (Portland)
ABOUT THE SPURS (17-7): San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich would probably prefer to give veteran forward Tim Duncan the night off after he played a season-high 40 minutes in Friday’s overtime loss to the Los Angeles Lakers and another 32 minutes on Sunday night at altitude in Denver. The 38-year-old sat out the second game in three of the previous six back-to-back situations and has not played especially well in the other three. Duncan averaged 13.8 points and 8.2 rebounds in the five-game series win against the Trail Blazers in last season’s Western Conference semifinals.
.
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (18-6): Lillard enjoyed a solid playoff series against the Spurs last spring and scored at least 17 points in each game, though he only shot better than 40 percent from the field in Portland’s lone victory. The player who needs to heat up for the Trail Blazers is shooting guard Wesley Matthews, who shot 19-for-31 from 3-point range in the final three games of November but is 14-for-46 in seven games this month. Nicolas Batum is coming off a 14-point effort against the Pacers, his highest-scoring game since the season opener.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Portland leads the league in rebounding (46.4) but doesn’t have a player among the top 10 in that category.
2. In Sunday's win against the Nuggets, Spurs F Kawhi Leonard became the first San Antonio player since David Robinson in 1992 to record at least five steals and five blocks in a game.
3. Portland G CJ McCollum, out the last 14 games with a fractured right index finger, reportedly could return against the Spurs.