Spurs at Trail Blazers
The San Antonio Spurs are stumbling through the back half of their rodeo road trip and are suddenly checking the rear-view mirror in the standings. The Spurs will try to snap a three-game slide when they visit the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday. The Trail Blazers began a stretch of three straight home games against potential Western Conference playoff opponents with a loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday and have dropped back-to-back games.
The Spurs won 11 of 14 games going into the All-Star break but have yet to win since getting back and fell 90-81 at Utah on Monday while the stars struggled. Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Kawhi Leonard were held to a total of 21 points while San Antonio committed a season-high 22 turnovers and fell to 2-4 on the trip. Portland is hoping to have forward LaMarcus Aldridge back in the lineup after the All-Star sat out Sunday’s loss to rest a thumb injury.
TV: 10:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, CW35 (San Antonio), CSN Northwest (Portland)
ABOUT THE SPURS (34-22): San Antonio has three stops left on its annual road trip over the course of four days beginning with Portland, and Monday’s loss dropped the team to 14-15 on the road. The Spurs are holding down the No. 7 spot in the West but the Oklahoma City Thunder are coming up fast from the No. 8 position, and San Antonio could use more from Parker. The veteran is 2-of-13 from the field over the last two games for a total of seven points and is about to take on standout Portland guard Damian Lillard.
ABOUT THE TRAIL BLAZERS (36-19): Aldridge has been playing through a torn ligament in his left thumb but sat out Sunday to rest a sprained right thumb and Portland fell flat in the fourth quarter as a 13-point lead slipped away in the 98-92 loss. “(Aldridge) is the guy we go to when we’re struggling,” Trail Blazers coach Terry Stotts told reporters. “The fact that we didn’t have him in the fourth quarter, that’s pretty obvious. When he’s not there, we’ve got to be able to create some offense for each other.” Aldridge is averaging 26.3 points and 12.7 rebounds in three games against the Spurs this season.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Blazers have taken two of the three meetings this season but dropped the latest 110-96 on Jan. 16.
2. Leonard is averaging 8.3 points on 30.8 percent shooting in the first six games of the trip.
3. Portland G Wesley Matthews is 1-of-9 from 3-point range in the last two games.