Spurs at Hornets
The Charlotte Hornets dropped two in a row and four of their last six games and are about to take on an opponent skilled in exploiting another team's weaknesses. The Hornets will try to quickly solve their issues before they host the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday.
Charlotte fell behind by as much as 26 points early on Monday, making the gap too large to overcome despite a spirited rally in the second half. “So, obviously, we just didn’t have the readiness to play against a good team," Hornets coach Steve Clifford told reporters after the 105-90 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. "They jumped us and frankly that’s two games in a row where we haven’t played like the same team that got us to 8-3. That’s part of learning, evolving into the team that I think we can be. It’s a long season and everybody’s going to have nights like this. Hopefully we learned our lesson tonight and we’ll be better on Wednesday." The Spurs are winners of six in a row, though Gregg Popovich did not sound very happy with his team following Monday's 96-91 triumph over Dallas. "That was a pathetic performance on the part of the Spurs," Popovich told reporters. "They had some guys out. We had some guys out. But they had a lot more out than we did. I felt we showed a lack of humility, a lack of respect for the opponent."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN, FSSW (San Antonio), FSN Southeast (Charlotte)
ABOUT THE SPURS (11-3): San Antonio center Pau Gasol, who is in his first season in San Antonio, is enjoying Popovich's candor. "Most coaches are happy just to win," Gasol told ESPN.com. "A win is a win and they're just happy. Then the next day you come and you clean up a couple things, and then you move on. I love the attention to detail. I love the not settling for good enough. If we want to win a championship, we're going to have to be excellent." Gasol, who won a pair of championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, is averaging 12.2 points and 7.1 rebounds for the Spurs.
ABOUT THE HORNETS (8-5): Charlotte shot 41.1 percent overall and 9-of-31 from 3-point range against Memphis, but the biggest shooting struggles came from the backcourt. Starters Kemba Walker and Nicolas Batum combined to go 7-of-22 from the floor, including 2-of-14 from beyond the arc. Walker finished with 17 points to end a string of 11 straight games with at least 20 points and is 5-of-23 from 3-point range in the last three contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Spurs PG Tony Parker (knee) sat out the last game and is day-to-day.
2. Hornets C Cody Zeller (shoulder) sat out the last two games and is questionable for Wednesday.
3. Charlotte snapped a 10-game losing streak in the series with a 91-88 home win over San Antonio on March 21.