Cavaliers at Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs have followed up a nine-game winning streak with three losses in a four-game span. San Antonio looks to return to the win column when it hosts the lowly Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday.
The Spurs hold the eighth and final Western Conference playoff spot and lead the Sacramento Kings by 5 1/2 games with seven to play. But San Antonio's chances of moving higher have been hurt by the mini-funk, which includes Tuesday's 125-116 overtime loss to the host Charlotte Hornets. Cleveland lost three straight games and power forward Larry Nance Jr. was encouraged after Tuesday's 116-106 home loss to the Boston Celtics. "It’s another sign of our resiliency. That’s growth," Nance told reporters. "Earlier in the year, that could have snowballed and gotten to 20-30 (point deficit) on our home court. I think it shows some maturity and some growth that we stay in it and fought until the very end. That’s a playoff team and they’re poised for a pretty big run. The fact that we could hang in there, take some of their punches and throw some of our own was impressive."
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FS Ohio (Cleveland), FS Southwest (San Antonio)
ABOUT THE CAVALIERS (19-56): Power forward Kevin Love struggled to 10 points on 3-of-13 shooting against Boston and took blame for his poor showing. "In the first half I didn't give the guys what I should have," Love, who collected 11 rebounds, told reporters afterward. "I have to bring it every single night for the entire game." Rookie point guard Collin Sexton continues to flourish and scored 24 points against Boston for his ninth 20-point effort in the past 10 games.
ABOUT THE SPURS (43-32): Charlotte's Kemba Walker scored 38 points in Tuesday's game and coach Gregg Popovich also was dismayed with the fact his club allowed 19 points in the overtime to go with a different defensive intensity than it displays at home. "We just don't play the same defense a lot of the time, we are not consistent defensively," Popovich told reporters. "If a team scores 120 points when we are on the road it is going to be hard for us to win a game." Shooting guard DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points after three consecutive 16-point efforts.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Spurs won the past four meetings.
2. Cleveland PG Matthew Dellavedova (concussion) isn’t expected to return this season.
3. San Antonio PG Derrick White missed all 10 of his field-goal attempts against Charlotte and is 2-for-17 over the past two games.