• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Slumping Spurs hope to halt skid vs. Suns

Apr 3, 2011 - 2:53 PM (Sports Network) - An ill-timed late season slump has San Antonio checking its rearview mirror as the Spurs get ready to host the desperate Phoenix Suns in the Alamo City.

Not even a surprise return by future Hall of Famer Tim Duncan last Thursday against Boston could awake San Antonio from its slumber and the Spurs are now in the midst of their longest losing streak since the 1996-97 season, the year before Duncan arrived in south Texas.

San Antonio has suffered six losses in a row for the first time since ending the 96-97 campaign with six consecutive defeats. In fact, the Spurs had never lost more than four straight since Duncan arrived.

Meanwhile, the top seed in the Western Conference and another division title do not appear to be guarantees anymore for a team that has led the NBA wire- to-wire this season. San Antonio still has the best record in the NBA at 57-19 but now sits just 1 1/2 games ahead of the two-time defending champion Los Angeles Lakers for conference supremacy. It is also just four games in front of Dallas in both the West and Southwest standings with six games to go. Hard- charging East leader Chicago is just a game for the best record in the league.

The Spurs latest loss came in Houston on Friday when Kevin Martin scored nine of his 33 points in overtime and the Rockets pulled away for a 119-114 victory over San Antonio.

Kyle Lowry knocked down a step-back jumper with 3.9 seconds left in regulation to tie the game for Houston, while Manu Ginobili took too much time on a drive at the other end for slumping San Antonio. The Spurs also wasted precious seconds instead of fouling to stop the clock late in overtime.

"We're going to see what we are made of," said Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. "If we can dig down deeper, we'll see if we are worth the way we played this season or not."

Not even Duncan, back for his second game since missing four with a sprained left ankle, has been able to stop San Antonio's slide. He scored 23 points with 13 rebounds against the Rockets and hit Tony Parker with an over-the- shoulder pass for a layup that gave the Spurs a three-point lead with 1:03 left in regulation.

But, after Courtney Lee converted his steal at mid-court into a layup for Houston, Duncan missed 1-of-2 at the foul line to leave the door open for Lowry's game-tying shot.

Parker led the Spurs with 31 points, while Ginobili scored 23 and Gary Neal had 10 off the bench.

A year after beating San Antonio in the second round of the playoffs, the Suns are on the verge of missing out on the postseason for just the fourth time since the 1988-89 season, currently sitting 10th in the West, 5 1/2 games behind New Orleans for the eighth and final slot in the conference.

Grant Hill led a balanced attack Friday with 19 points as Phoenix kept its slim hopes alive by downing the Los Angeles Clippers, 111-98, at US Airways Center.

Hakim Warrick had 17 points and 10 rebounds while Jared Dudley added 16 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Suns, who snapped a four-game slide thanks to six players posting double-digits in points.

"I thought that we had good ball movement," said Dudley. "I thought we were aggressive and under control. I think that we helped each other out defensively, we got turnovers and deflections."

Star guard Steve Nash sat out the game with flu-like symptoms, and the Suns won for the first time in five games without him this season. His status for Sunday's game is still up in the air.

San Antonio has won both meetings between the two clubs this season and has taken six of eight overall versus Phoenix.