Hawks at Spurs
Teams are starting to separate just a bit at the bottom of the Western Conference playoff bracket, and the San Antonio Spurs are drifting in the wrong direction. The Spurs will try to snap out of a recent funk and jump back into the fight for the fifth or sixth seed when they host the Atlanta Hawks on Tuesday.
San Antonio dropped four of its last six games to fall into seventh place in the West at the start of play on Monday, 2 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Clippers and Utah Jazz tied for fifth. The Spurs dropped a 113-106 decision to an already-eliminated Sacramento Kings squad on Sunday and were held to 19 points in the fourth quarter after watching coach Gregg Popovich get ejected for arguing a call in the third quarter. The Hawks are out of the race as well but will not roll over for San Antonio and are coming off a 136-135 overtime victory over the NBA-best Milwaukee Bucks on Sunday to mark their fourth win in five games, with three of those victories coming over teams bound for the postseason. Rookie point guard Trae Young played the hero in the latest win, collecting a deflected pass and launching a buzzer-beating jumper.
TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FS Southeast (Atlanta), FS Southwest (San Antonio)
ABOUT THE HAWKS (28-49): The game-winner was one of only five made field goals in 19 attempts on Sunday for Young, who made up for his poor shooting effort by handing out 16 assists to mark his fifth double-double in the last six games. Joining Young with a double-double was shooting guard Justin Anderson, who recorded season highs of 24 points and 12 rebounds in the victory while reaching double figures in scoring for the first time since a 10-point effort at Charlotte on Nov. 28. Center Alex Len got an opportunity to join the starting lineup on Sunday with Dewayne Dedmon (ankle) out and added 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting - his fourth straight game scoring in double digits.
ABOUT THE SPURS (44-33): San Antonio is headed to its 22nd straight postseason but is looking at a first-round date with either Golden State or Denver without a strong push to the finish and some help. All-Star center LaMarcus Aldridge did all he could on Sunday with 27 points and 18 rebounds but 18 of those points came in the first quarter as the Spurs offense went stagnant late. San Antonio begins a three-game road trip at Denver on Wednesday but will play its final three games against sub-.500 opponents at Washington, at Cleveland and home against the Dallas Mavericks in the regular season finale.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Hawks SF Taurean Prince (foot soreness) sat out the last two games and is day-to-day.
2. Spurs PG Patty Mills is 4-of-20 from 3-point range over the last three games.
3. San Antonio earned a 111-104 victory at Atlanta on March 6 behind 32 points from Aldridge.