Officially eliminated from Play-In contention, San Antonio looks to improve on its 32-win mark over the last four games of the year.
SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs (32-46) will visit the Los Angeles Clippers (46-32) Tuesday night for a late-night matchup as the final week of the NBA regular season gets underway.
The Spurs are 1-2 versus the Clippers this season. More importantly, they were officially eliminated from Play-In Tournament contention with Sunday’s loss to the Trail Blazers, ensuring a sixth straight straight season without playoff basketball in San Antonio.
Will they add to their 32-win total over the remainder of the year or look to boost its lottery positioning in the NBA Draft? How they perform against the Clippers could provide an indication.
GAME REWIND
The Spurs are coming off a 120-109 road loss to the Blazers, a game in which Devin Vassell scored 21 points.
Presumptive Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle notched 22 points and dished out five assists. Chris Paul had eight points and nine assists. Malaki Branham finished with 17 and four rebounds, and Bismack Biyombo recorded 10 points.
“Kind of gave them an early lead, too many easy buckets,” Castle said afterwards. “They didn’t come out just firing threes; just making a lot of threes. That’s how they got to the lead. I feel like we gave them a lot of easy buckets early and forced ourselves to have to get back in the game in the first quarter.”
INJURY REPORT
Jeremy Sochan has been ruled out for Tuesday’s game with back inflammation. Victor Wembanyama and De’Aaron Fox will also be watching from the sidelines after their seasons ended earlier this spring.
Amir Coffee (9.8 points, 2.3 rebounds per game this year) is out for LA, and Kawhi Leonard (21.0 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists per game) is questionable as he deals with injury managements.
THE UNIFORMS
The Spurs will be in their Statement Edition jerseys Tuesday.
FIVE THINGS TO WATCH
1. The Clippers have won four straight games over the Spurs in Los Angeles.
2. LA’s Norman Powell is averaging a career-high 22.0 points this season.
3. The Clippers are 13-1 at home when scoring 120-plus points.
4. The Spurs have connected on fewer three-pointers against their opponent in two straight games.
5. The Spurs are 3-18 on the road when trailing at halftime.
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