Spurs at Wizards
The San Antonio Spurs are the NBA's lone unbeaten team on the road and they look to raise their mark to 10-0 when they visit the Washington Wizards on Saturday. San Antonio is playing well no matter the location and takes aim at its ninth consecutive overall win.
The Spurs averaged 114 points in road wins over the Charlotte Hornets and Boston Celtics to open the three-game excursion and are entering the sixth contest of a stretch in which they play nine of 12 on the road. San Antonio star forward Kawhi Leonard was the only starter on his game during Friday's 109-103 victory over the Boston Celtics as he produced 25 points and 10 rebounds. Washington is trying to dig out of an early hole and Friday's 94-91 win over the Orlando Magic was its third win in the past four games. "We've improved from week to week," Wizards coach Scott Brooks told reporters afterward. "Sometimes your record doesn't indicate that, but I know we're a better team. I like where we're going."
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NBATV, FSN Southwest (San Antonio), CSN Mid-Atlantic (Washington)
ABOUT THE SPURS (13-3): San Antonio received more points from the bench (56) than starters (53) during the win over Boston with point guard Patty Mills leading the way with a season-best 19 points. Forward David Lee recorded season highs of 15 points and 12 rebounds while Davis Bertans contributed 15 points and coach Gregg Popovich cited him as the key, as the rookie set a personal best for points for the second consecutive contest. "Bertans was amazing," Popovich told reporters. "Kawhi is Kawhi but we start to take him for granted. I think overall the bench was the key."
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (5-9): Point guard John Wall is playing his best basketball of the season with three double-doubles (in each of the wins) over the past four games. Wall, who has seven steals over the last two contests, is now playing both ends of back-to-backs after being rested in one of the games earlier this season due to offseason surgery on both knees. He recorded 26 points and 10 assists in the victory over Orlando and is averaging 26 points over the past six contests.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Wizards have won two of the past three meetings.
2. San Antonio C Pau Gasol was the worst of the struggling starters against Boston, going scoreless and missing all five of his shots.
3. Washington backup SG Marcus Thornton is averaging 4.7 points on 4-of-15 shooting over the past three games.