Spurs at Lakers
The San Antonio Spurs wrap up a run of eight straight road games that spanned the All-Star break when they visit the Los Angeles Lakers on Sunday afternoon. The Spurs opened the long stretch away from home with an ugly loss at Memphis on Feb. 6, but they have won five of the last six and three straight, including Friday's 105-97 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers at the Staples Center.
"We're coming down to our last 20 games," All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard told reporters. "This is the time we need to jell as a team, make our playoff push, make our weaknesses strong." Weaknesses are seemingly few for San Antonio, which has held opponents to 94.3 points during the road stretch and gets to play 16 of its final 24 games at home beginning Wednesday, including two against Western Conference-leading Golden State, which led the Spurs by four games entering Saturday. The Lakers have lost three in a row, the first by a point and the next two by a combined 53. D'Angelo Russell scored 29 points while his fellow starters combined for 27 in Friday's 110-93 loss at Oklahoma City.
TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, FSN Southwest (San Antonio), Spectrum SportsNet (Los Angeles)
ABOUT THE SPURS (44-13): Center Pau Gasol returned from a 15-game layoff due to a finger injury and showed little rust in the win over the Clippers, producing 17 points and 11 rebounds in 27 minutes off the bench. "For the most part, (I conditioned) as much as I could," Gasol told reporters. "It's nothing like playing a game at the end of the day, because of the adrenaline and every other factor that goes into it. But I worked really, really hard to be in a good place." Leonard scored 31 points and Gasol added 22 on 9-of-9 shooting in a 40-point win over the Lakers at home Jan. 12 in the Spurs' most lopsided victory of the season.
ABOUT THE LAKERS (19-40): Guard Nick Young figures to be relied upon a bit more to score now that leading scorer Lou Williams has been traded to Houston, but Young continued to slump in his first game out of the break. He shot 1-for-9 in the loss to the Thunder and is averaging six points - less than half his season average - while shooting 6-for-29 during the three-game losing streak. Newcomer Corey Brewer, obtained in the Williams deal, had two points in four minutes in his debut for Los Angeles.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. San Antonio has won seven straight meetings and six in a row at the Staples Center.
2. Lakers F Julius Randle has recorded consecutive double-doubles after going 16 straight games without one.
3. The Spurs shot a season-high 60.5 percent from the field in the previous matchup.