Spurs at Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks just don't experience much success against San Antonio
and aim to snap a 10-game losing streak in the series with they host
the Spurs on Saturday. The teams met in San Antonio on Nov. 28 and the
Spurs continued their dominance by rolling to an easy 108-88 win over
the Hawks.
San Antonio rested point guard Tony Parker on the front end of a back-to-back and encountered few issues while posting a 109-87 home win over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. Veteran center Tim Duncan should also be fresh after playing only 20 minutes and he grabbed a season-best 18 rebounds in last month's victory over the Hawks. Atlanta is just 7-9 after opening the season with seven wins in eight games and is coming off a 107-94 road loss against Oklahoma City on Thursday. The Hawks will need better efforts from frontcourt standouts Al Horford and Paul Millsap against the Spurs after the duo combined for just 16 points against the Thunder.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBATV, FSN Southwest (San Antonio), FSN Southeast (Atlanta)
ABOUT THE SPURS (19-5): Power forward LaMarcus Aldridge had 24 points and 11 rebounds in the victory over the Lakers and appears to be finding his rhythm after a slow start. Aldridge scored a season-high 26 points against Philadelphia earlier in the week and has made at least 50 percent of his shots in five of the past seven games. "When you are playing with a whole group of new players, it takes time to understand where your place is," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said after Friday's game. "Sometimes I think he has deferred too much because he is trying to fit in. Usually, that's the right thing to do when you enter an organization. Any of us who has a new job defers in the beginning and tries to fit. I think he's slowly getting over that and becoming more demonstrative."
ABOUT THE HAWKS (14-10): Backup small forward Kent Bazemore is averaging 16.3 points over the past three games and poured in 22 points and tied his career best of four 3-pointers in the loss to the Thunder. The output was Bazemore's second highest of the season and fourth best of his career, and it really impressed Horford. "He kept us in the game with his aggressiveness," Horford told reporters. "He just came out and he really kept us in the game, because it could have gotten ugly there early. He stepped up, he was solid for us, and that allowed us to come out in the second half and be more competitive."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Atlanta's last win over the Spurs was a 119-114 overtime victory March 21, 2010.
2. Horford had just nine points on 3-of-14 shooting against the Thunder, marking the first time he failed to score in double digits this season.
3. San Antonio backup PG Patty Mills scored a season-best 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting against the Lakers after being 9-of-22 shooting during the previous four games.