Spurs at Mavericks
The up-and-down nature of the Dallas Mavericks has hit another downswing at a bad time. The Mavericks will try to avoid a third straight loss when they host the defending champion San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday. Losses to Memphis and at Phoenix over the weekend allowed the Spurs to jump over Dallas in the standings, leaving the Mavericks in seventh place in the Western Conference, one game behind San Antonio.
Dallas bridged February and March with a stretch of five losses in seven games but appeared to be pulling out of the funk with an impressive three-game winning streak before falling flat again over the weekend. "This is a Dallas Mavericks hard-play problem, all right?" coach Rick Carlisle told reporters. "We don't play hard all the time. And that's a problem.” The Spurs have won three in a row and are coming off a 114-95 triumph at East-leading Atlanta on Sunday.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, TNT, KENS (San Antonio), FSN Southwest (Dallas)
ABOUT THE SPURS (44-25): San Antonio gets a chance to solidify the No. 6 spot this week and possibly move forward in the West with its next three games against the two teams below it in the standings in Dallas (twice) and Oklahoma City. The Spurs shot 56.1 percent from the floor and needed only eight points from Tony Parker to put up 114 against the Hawks as Tiago Splitter (23 points) and Kawhi Leonard (20 points, 10 rebounds, seven assists and four steals) carried the load. "I'm feeling healthy. I'm feeling like I can push myself,” Splitter told KENS5.com “I feel like I have nothing against it. I'm just going in there and putting everything on the court. I'm running better, I'm rebounding better and just feeling stronger. The confidence, of course, goes together with that.”
ABOUT THE MAVERICKS (44-27): Dallas fell behind by 15 points at the half in the 98-92 loss at Phoenix on Sunday and is looking for a better effort from the start over the last 11 games. “We’re not playing up to our ability right now,” forward Chandler Parsons told reporters. “There’s ups and downs in a season, so we can’t get too low right now. Everyone tends to do that when we have a loss, but we still control our own destiny.” The Mavericks’ next seven games are against teams fighting for playoff spots, with the lone sub-.500 opponent in that span at Indiana on Sunday.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The home team has taken each of the first two meetings, with the Mavericks claiming a 99-93 win in the most recent meeting on Dec. 20.
2. Dallas G J.J. Barea (ankle) has been ruled out.
3. San Antonio G Manu Ginobili (ankle) has missed the last four games and remains questionable.