Spurs at Kings
The San Antonio Spurs have traditionally performed well on the annual rodeo road trip while setting themselves up for a strong stretch run. The Spurs are just trying to make it home in one piece this time and will attempt to avoid a season-high fifth straight loss when they visit the Sacramento Kings on Friday. San Antonio dropped to 2-5 on the nine-game trip with a 111-95 loss at Portland on Wednesday and is getting little from Tony Parker.
The Kings are trending in the opposite direction with back-to-back home wins as the players settle into new head coach George Karl’s system. “It’s just to come together and enjoy the game, and the feeling of winning helps that,” Karl told reporters after a 102-90 win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday. “Winning is a drug to competitors and to athletes and these guys should feel awful good about what they did (against Memphis).” The Spurs are finishing up their trip with a tough back-to-back and will head to Phoenix on Saturday.
TV: 10 p.m. ET, KENS (San Antonio), CSN California (Sacramento)
ABOUT THE SPURS (34-23): Parker is still bothered by a hamstring injury that kept him out of the lineup for 14 games in December and into January and is slumping badly of late. The former All-Star looked rejuvenated after the All-Star break with 21 points and 13 assists in the first game back but has totaled nine points on 3-of-21 shooting in the last three contests while turning the ball over 10 times. “Even when you win, coaches are concerned,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich told reporters. “It’s not about winning or losing, it’s about trying to get better all the time.”
ABOUT THE KINGS (20-35): Karl has been installing his offense without his starting point guard, Darren Collison, and could be without the UCLA product for at least another month after it was announced that Collison would undergo surgery to repair a core muscle on Tuesday. Ray McCallum has been operating as the starter with veteran Andre Miller, who ran Karl’s system in Denver, getting plenty of time off the bench. The two combined for 14 points, 10 assists and three steals in the win over Memphis.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Kings snapped a nine-game losing streak in the series with a 94-91 home win on Nov. 15 but fell at San Antonio two weeks later.
2. Ginobili failed to score in double figures in any of the last three games.
3. Sacramento C DeMarcus Cousins (left ankle) sat out practice Thursday and is day-to-day.