Spurs at Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets hope to be catching San Antonio at the right time
and will attempt to halt a 10-game losing streak against the Spurs
on Monday. San Antonio posted an 87-79 victory in its showdown with the
Golden State Warriors on Saturday and will have to guard against a
letdown.
The Spurs have won six consecutive games and are just three games behind the Warriors for the top spot in the Western Conference after the impressive victory in which it held Golden State to a season low in points. All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge had 26 points and 13 rebounds to top 20 points for the ninth time in 10 games, and he is averaging 24.2 points during the stretch. Charlotte has won 15 of its last 19 games but put together a substandard effort while suffering a 101-93 home loss to the Denver Nuggets on Saturday. "There are only four or five teams in this league who are good enough to show up, not play their A-game and win," Hornets coach Steve Clifford told reporters. "If we're not going to have everybody pretty much engaged and playing well, we don't beat anybody."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBATV, FSN Southwest (San Antonio), FSN Southeast (Charlotte)
ABOUT THE SPURS (59-10): Future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan came off the bench for only the third time in 1,383 regular-season games on Saturday when San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich decided to counter Golden State's smaller athletic lineup by starting Boris Diaw at center. Duncan only played eight minutes and had one point and two rebounds and Aldridge was among the Spurs who felt his acceptance of the lineup change was a big factor in the contest. "He's such a great person," Aldridge told reporters. "He didn't pout. He was very positive. He was talking to me. I don't know if many guys in that position would have handled it as well as he did."
ABOUT THE HORNETS (39-30): Charlotte is part of a four-team battle to finish third in the Eastern Conference and that made the home loss to the lowly Nuggets even harder to accept. The Hornets trailed by 17 points at halftime and coach Steve Clifford was dumbfounded by the lack of effort and the team's body language. "Whenever there was a mistake, heads were down," Clifford said. "Again, you're going to play the game you're prepared to play, just like every game. You get up with the right attitude in the morning. You get up with a bad attitude, something goes wrong and it screws your whole day off. Playing sports it's the same way."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Spurs posted a 114-94 home win over the Hornets on Nov. 7 and haven't lost to Charlotte since Jan. 15, 2010.
2. Charlotte C Cody Zeller had a career-high five blocked shots against Denver after having just one over the previous four games.
3. San Antonio All-Star SF Kawhi Leonard had 18 points and 14 rebounds against Golden State after scoring 20 or more points in 10 of the previous 11 contests.