Spurs at Bulls
The San Antonio Spurs are struggling to generate any positive momentum and dropped one game under .500 with a 135-129 loss at Milwaukee on Saturday - their eighth setback in 11 games. The Spurs will try to bounce back when they visit the Chicago Bulls on Monday for the third stop of a four-game trip.
The 135 points allowed on Saturday marked the most San Antonio allowed in a non-overtime game this season, and the final number looks even worse when considering the 40 points surrendered in the fourth quarter alone. "We scored enough points to win," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich told reporters. "You've got to be able to get stops in the fourth quarter." The Bulls are losers of six of their last seven contests and know all about poor fourth quarters after being outscored 27-17 in the final period of Saturday's 111-96 home loss to Minnesota. "You can only say so much because we keep doing the same thing over and over again," Chicago guard Zach LaVine told reporters. "You can only say so much about it. I'm doing the best I can. We do some things out there just - you guys see it. It makes you turn your head. 'What the hell are we doing?'"
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FS Southwest (San Antonio), NBCS Chicago
ABOUT THE SPURS (9-10): DeMar DeRozan matched a season high with 34 points and handed out seven assists on Saturday but was upset with a team defensive performance that allowed Milwaukee star Giannis Antetokounmpo to take over down the stretch. "We've got to be better," DeRozan told reporters. "We know a key guy like Giannis is going to be extremely aggressive. We've got to be disciplined and understand how we can help the guy who is guarding him and make things as difficult as possible. It's not just a one-guy thing. It's a team thing. We kind of slacked on that." DeRozan is averaging 24.9 points and 6.3 assists while settling in in his first season with San Antonio.
ABOUT THE BULLS (5-15): Power forward Jabari Parker did his best to try to pull the team to a win Saturday and finished with a season-high 27 points on 11-of-18 shooting and seven rebounds. "I’d say overall for me - I can just speak for myself - I am just trying to keep fighting and do what I can to make it easier for everybody," Parker told the team's website. "Just trying to improve myself; that's all I can focus on. All I know is if I am doing what I can, improving, then I can look myself in the mirror; it's just about trying to improve. The game is about makes and misses and also what you do to stay in the game, so it's a bigger picture than just the jumper." Parker scored 20 or more points in three straight games and four of the last five.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Spurs SG Bryn Forbes is 20-of-37 from 3-point range over the last seven games.
2. Chicago SG Justin Holiday recorded a double-double in each of the last two games and is averaging 12 rebounds in that span.
3. San Antonio took the last three in the series, including a 133-94 drubbing in the last meeting on Nov. 11, 2017.