Spurs at Hornets
The San Antonio Spurs just had a long winning streak against one Eastern Conference opponent come to an end are hoping to keep another intact. The Spurs will try to secure their eighth straight win in the series and fourth on the road when they visit the Charlotte Hornets on Wednesday. The Hornets are coming into the game on a roll with a season-best five-game winning streak and are opening a four-game homestand.
Charlotte is making its way toward the top eight in the East despite Lance Stephenson and Al Jefferson watching from the bench with injuries thanks to the superb play of Kemba Walker, who is averaging 30.2 points during the winning streak. “This is the best offense that we’ve played over these last number of games,” Hornets coach Steve Clifford told reporters. “Even in a couple of games we lost, I thought our offense was getting better.” San Antonio is enduring the second night of a back-to-back after suffering a 101-93 loss in Washington on Tuesday.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (San Antonio), SportSouth (Charlotte)
ABOUT THE SPURS (23-16): There’s no telling who coach Gregg Popovich will choose to rest in back-to-back games, but Tim Duncan has played in both ends of the past three back-to-backs and 11 games in a row overall. The 38-year-old is not logging heavy minutes, and the 26 he played in Washington marked his most court time in the past four games. Tony Parker played both ends of a back-to-back over the weekend as well and is steadily increasing his minutes in four games since returning from a hamstring injury, up to 31 Tuesday.
ABOUT THE HORNETS (15-24): Stephenson has been out since suffering a pelvic strain against the Phoenix Suns on Dec. 17 but practiced with the team the past two days and plans to return against the Spurs. "I’ll probably come off the bench and I won’t be mad over that,” Stephenson told the Charlotte Observer. “I’ll just try to feel everybody out. Right now we’re on a five-game winning streak and I don’t want to do anything to break that.” Stephenson has been a disappointment since signing with the team as a free agent over the summer, and Charlotte went 9-5 with him out of the lineup.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Spurs F Marco Belinelli (groin) sat out the last two games and is day-to-day.
2. Charlotte F Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is averaging 11.3 points and 10.3 rebounds with four double-doubles in the last six games.
3. San Antonio G Patty Mills is 9-of-15 from 3-point range over the last three games.