Spurs at Knicks
The San Antonio Spurs' annual Rodeo Road Trip spanning the All-Star break is about to reach three weeks in length, and victories remain hard to come by. After falling to 1-5 on the road stretch with a narrow loss in Toronto, the Spurs will try to take advantage of the worst home team in the NBA when they face the New York Knicks on Sunday.
Despite 23 points from DeMar DeRozan in his return to Toronto, San Antonio dropped a 120-117 decision to the Raptors on Friday to sink into a virtual tie with two other teams at the back end of the Western Conference playoff picture entering Saturday. "I thought it was a great game, a good competitive game after the long break," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich told reporters, choosing to focus on the positives with two more games remaining on the trip. The first is in Madison Square Garden, where the Knicks are a woeful 4-24 after Friday's 115-104 setback against the Minnesota Timberwolves, the franchise-record 18th straight defeat in the downtown arena. New York turned it over 23 times in its first game following the break while falling for the 32nd time in its last 35 games.
TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, NBATV, FS Southwest (San Antonio), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE SPURS (33-27): All-Star power forward LaMarcus Aldridge averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds in the first four games he played on the trip before being held to six points on 2-of-8 shooting and eight boards at Toronto. The team welcomed back guard Derrick White from a heel injury but the second-year pro was 3-of-9 from the floor as San Antonio -- the second-best shooting team in the league entering Saturday -- was held under 50 percent for the eighth time in its last nine games. Marco Belinelli led a solid effort by the bench with 21 points while tying a season high with six rebounds.
ABOUT THE KNICKS (11-48): Even for a team mired at the bottom of the standings, the sloppiness in Friday's loss stood out. "I think we all kind of are in that boat right now, coming off a break," coach David Fizdale told reporters. "But there was definitely something there because some of our timing on our passes and some of our turnovers was just wild. Our focus defensively on just guarding guys from the standpoint of awareness, staying down on shot fakes. We went up, I guarantee it was 10-plus times we went up on shot fakes. That’s just a lack of focus and those are things that we can control." Guards Damyean Dotson and Allonzo Trier both scored 20 points while combining to hit 6-of-10 3-pointers in the loss.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Knicks PG Emmanuel Mudiay returned from a shoulder injury to score 15 points in 26 minutes against Minnesota.
2. Spurs C Jakob Poeltl is 20-for-27 from the field in February after a 4-for-4 effort Friday night.
3. San Antonio has won three straight meetings.