Spurs at Wizards
The San Antonio Spurs are sitting in the No. 8 spot in the Western Conference and are scuffling a bit of late as they slog through the remainder of the regular season. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich will try to stick around for at least a full quarter and lead his team to a win when they visit the Washington Wizards on Friday.
Popovich was given two technical fouls and ejected 63 seconds into a loss at Denver on Wednesday after arguing a non-call against All-Star center LaMarcus Aldridge. San Antonio went onto drop a 113-85 decision to the Nuggets, which marked its fifth loss in the last eight games and dropped it a half-game behind the seventh-place Oklahoma City Thunder in the West. The Wizards are already eliminated from postseason contention and are trying out different rotations and extending minutes of some players while assessing the roster. Washington placed three reserves in double figures scoring on Wednesday but still dropped a 115-114 home decision to the Chicago Bulls.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, CW35 (San Antonio), NBCS Washington
ABOUT THE SPURS (45-34): Popovich declined the opportunity to make a statement about the officials after the game on Wednesday and the entire San Antonio roster would likely prefer to turn the page on an ugly loss to a team they could see in the first round of the postseason. The Spurs fell to 14-25 on the road with that loss and will play two more away from home before finishing out the regular season at home against Dallas on Wednesday. Aldridge scored 16 points in 24 minutes on Wednesday and San Antonio went to the bench early in the lopsided contest, allowing reserve guard Lonnie Walker IV some time to shine with 16 points in as many minutes.
ABOUT THE WIZARDS (32-47): Washington limited All-Star guard Bradley Beal to 22 minutes on Wednesday and extended the minutes of reserves Sam Dekker, Chasson Randle and Jordan McRae. "Guys are playing minutes that we have to make decisions on," Wizards coach Scott Brooks told reporters. "These are great opportunities for them to step up. We can score the ball. We've been a great offensive team all year, and we have a lot of really good offensive players that are missing. But defensively we need to find guys that are really going to get better on the defensive end. It's not about scoring with us. We can score. We can score and we pass the ball well." McRae stood out on the defensive end, recording three steals and a block in 28 minutes in the loss.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. Wizards C Thomas Bryant recorded a double-double in each of the last four games.
2. Spurs SG Marco Belinelli is 2-of-15 from the floor over the last two games, including 2-of-12 from 3-point range.
3. San Antonio took five of the last six in the series, including a 132-119 home victory on Jan. 27.