Nets at Spurs
The Spurs are vulnerable at home this season, offering the lowly Brooklyn Nets some hope of victory when they visit San Antonio on Saturday. Brooklyn is actually hitting the road with some momentum after pulling out a 116-111 home win over the Denver Nuggets on Saturday but is searching for more at the defensive end.
The Nets are last in the NBA in scoring defense, surrendering an average of 114.2 points, but were pleased with the improvement shown on the offensive end in the win over the Nuggets. "We were sharing the ball a lot," center Brook Lopez told reporters. "I just keep telling them, 'Same way, same way.' I was trying to repeat it: 'Trust each other. Share the ball. Move. Attack the basket. Be aggressive.' That’s what has to continue . . . for a full 48 minutes." The Nets might be catching San Antonio at the right time after the Spurs suffered their first road loss at Chicago on Wednesday and were ripped by coach Gregg Popovich for not coming ready to play. "If you're a plumber and you don't do your job, you don't get any work," Popovich told reporters. "I don't think a plumber needs a pep talk. ... If you're a basketball player, you come ready. It's called maturity. It's your job."
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, YES (Brooklyn), FSN Southwest (San Antonio)
ABOUT THE NETS (6-15): Brooklyn's guard rotation with starting point guard Jeremy Lin (hamstring) out the last month made it difficult to gain continuity and trust on the offense, but everyone managed to get involved on Wednesday. Each of the five starters recorded at least 10 field-goal attempts, led by Lopez's 7-of-17 effort, and each of the five recorded at least two assists. "Yeah, a lot of progress," guard Sean Kilpatrick told Newsday. "It’s something we’ve been building on and something we’ve been talking about. ... I think we’re getting better by the day."
ABOUT THE SPURS (18-5): Popovich's big complaint with the team is that it can't seem to put together a full 48 minutes of effort, and San Antonio scored 32 points in the first half at Chicago and could not dig itself out of the hole in the second half. "We're not a very consistent team, and we haven't learned as a group that the game is 48 minutes," Popovich told reporters. "We also have some people playing very poorly. You have to participate in your own recovery. Some players have to play better." One of those players is power forward LaMarcus Aldridge, who totaled 16 points on 8-of-23 shooting in the last two games.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Nets signed free agent PG Spencer Dinwiddie and waived PG Yogi Ferrell on Thursday.
2. Spurs PG Tony Parker (thigh) played 24 minutes at Chicago after sitting out three of the previous four games.
3. San Antonio took both meetings last season by an average of 27 points.