Spurs at Thunder
San Antonio All-Star small forward Kawhi Leonard will miss his second
straight game and four other Spurs will be rested in Saturday's visit to
play the Oklahoma City Thunder. Leonard is sidelined with a quadriceps
injury while San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said center Tim Duncan,
All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge and guards Tony Parker and Manu
Ginobili won't play in Oklahoma City.
The Thunder have won six consecutive contests and should have a good chance of extending the streak with the Spurs sitting out so many key contributors. Oklahoma City has clinched the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference and San Antonio has wrapped up the No. 2 seed, which has diminished some of the luster of the matchup. "It's just another game," Thunder All-Star forward Kevin Durant told reporters. "It's just another opportunity to keep building the habits that we've built these last couple weeks. We just want to keep playing good basketball like we've been playing. It means nothing. I'm sure it means nothing to those guys. It's not a playoff game." The Spurs shot 57.1 percent from the field without Leonard on Friday while recording a 110-104 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBATV, FSN Southwest (San Antonio), FSN Oklahoma
ABOUT THE SPURS (61-11): Aldridge took over the go-to role with Leonard out of the lineup and was superb with 32 points on 12-of-16 shooting against the Grizzlies. "It just comes to me," Aldridge told reporters. "The ball finds its way to me more and I just put it in the basket." Popovich sat guards Danny Green and Patty Mills along with forward Boris Diaw on Friday and he plans to continue to rest players down the final stretch of the regular season.
ABOUT THE THUNDER (50-22): Coach Billy Donovan is pleased with the production and detail-oriented approach of centers Steven Adams and Enes Kanter. Adams has started 70 games and is averaging 7.7 points and 6.4 rebounds while Kanter has come off the bench in all 72 games and is contributing 12.4 points and 7.8 rebounds. "Both of them have helped each other," Donovan told reporters. "It's a unique and healthy relationship. They see that together there is a greater good for the benefit of the entire team. I appreciate both of their unselfishness and willingness to do whatever they need to do to help our team."
BUZZER BEATERS
1. San Antonio has won three of the last four meetings and the teams have split this season's two matchups.
2. Spurs SG Kevin Martin is averaging 12.5 points during the last two games after averaging just 4.2 points in his first six games with the club.
3. Oklahoma City backup SG Dion Waiters is averaging 17 points on 15-of-27 shooting in the past two games.