Warriors at Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs are the hottest team in the NBA with wins in eight straight games as they attempt to push their way up the crowded standings in the Western Conference. Sitting on top of the standings in the West are the Golden State Warriors, who visit the Spurs on Monday after taking the first two stops of a four-game road trip.
San Antonio is within striking distance of the No. 4 spot in the West and homecourt advantage in the first round after knocking off one of the teams above it in the standings in a 108-103 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Saturday. The Spurs locked down on the defensive end against the Trail Blazers, limiting them to 7-of-28 from 3-point range and 41.6 percent shooting while holding an opponent to 105 points or fewer for the seventh time in eight games. The Warriors blasted the Oklahoma City Thunder 110-88 on Saturday and bested playoff teams in each of the last two games after falling to the West-worst Phoenix Suns on March 10. "I think the loss to Phoenix opened our eyes a little bit," Golden State coach Steve Kerr told reporters. "And I think our guys just felt threatened on the road. We've played two great teams, we've got another one, maybe the hottest team in the league in San Antonio coming up, so anytime they're threatened, I think our guys tend to play better."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN, NBCS Bay Area (Golden State), FS Southwest (San Antonio)
ABOUT THE WARRIORS (47-21): The loss to Phoenix is serving as a turning point for the defending champions, who were struggling to find any consistency prior to the loss. "Everybody's been locked in," Warriors forward Draymond Green told reporters. "You see a different fire in the coaching staff, a different focus in their eyes. You see a different focus and fire in our players' eyes, and that's important. The training staff's been locked in, like everybody's been locked in since that loss. It comes at a good time for us, I think we got 13 or 14 games left, it's the right time to start playing well and try to roll on into the playoffs feeling good." Golden State won the last two games without the services of All-Star forward Kevin Durant, who is day-to-day with an ankle injury.
ABOUT THE SPURS (41-29): DeMar DeRozan led the way with 21 points on Saturday and is averaging 23.8 points over the last four contests to push his season mark to 21.6. All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge was held to 12 points in the win but San Antonio got plenty of support off the bench with three scorers in double figures. Veteran small forward Rudy Gay scored 13 points off the bench for his second straight game in double figures since returning from a two-game illness absence.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Warriors SG Klay Thompson is averaging 30 points over the last four games.
2. Poeltl recorded five blocks in each of the last two games.
3. Golden State crushed San Antonio 141-102 at home in the most recent meeting on Feb. 6.