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Grizzlies-Spurs Preview

Mar 24, 2016 - 11:48 PM Memphis has needed the help of a serious handicap over the past 12 meetings to beat San Antonio: If Kawhi Leonard has played, the Spurs have won. If not, the Grizzlies have.

The forward is coming off matching a career-high scoring performance, but it happens to have included an injury that will keep him out Friday night.

Memphis will also be without key players, so it seems particularly unlikely San Antonio's 45-game home winning streak will come to an end.

The teams will play twice in four days with the Spurs (60-11) sandwiching in Saturday's stop in Oklahoma City on their way to Memphis for Monday's rematch, while the Grizzlies (41-31) will have a little more rest.

They figure to need it considering the Spurs have won the last three meetings by double digits while limiting the Grizzlies to 84.7 points on 41.5 percent shooting and 23.1 from 3-point range. Their last three losses to Memphis came with Leonard hurt, and San Antonio has won nine straight in the series with its star, who has connected on 61.2 percent overall and 65.6 from 3.

It was also Leonard leading the way in Wednesday's 112-88 home win over Miami, scoring 32 points in 24 minutes while the rest of the starters combined for 26.

"I never saw him aggressive like that," point guard Tony Parker said. "He was very aggressive. It was going in. He was playing well. He was rolling."

None of the starters played more than 25 minutes, and Leonard left for good with 6:01 remaining in the third quarter with a bruised right quadriceps. Leonard won't play Friday, and the Spurs are also resting Danny Green, Boris Diaw and Patty Mills.

"As time goes on, he's learning how to understand how to feel his oats and channel it wisely," coach Gregg Popovich said.

It put a slight damper on the Spurs' 60th overall victory, though they remain on target to match a franchise-best 63 wins from 2005-06 as early as next week in Memphis. The home winning streak ranks second ahead of Chicago's 44-game run in 1995-96, but San Antonio is still chasing an active NBA record (51) as Golden State continues to win, and the Spurs can only get to 50 this season.

The continuously banged-up Grizzlies, who are without Marc Gasol for the rest of the season, have also had Mike Conley sidelined for the last 10 games because of an Achilles injury, though he's expected back before the end of the regular season.

Dating to his last game March 6, Memphis has gone 4-7 after falling 107-100 Tuesday at the Los Angeles Lakers. The Grizzlies have also lost home games to Phoenix and Minnesota in that span, so this was just the latest letdown against a weak team.

"It's a game that we needed, and we didn't win," Vince Carter said. "They had more energy than us. I don't know what they're playing for, but I know what we're playing for."

That's home-court advantage in the first round, for which the fifth-seeded Grizzlies would need an impressive run in their last 10 games to catch the Los Angeles Clippers.

The unlikely replacement for Conley's offense lately has most often been Tony Allen. The defensive specialist returned from an eight-game absence for Conley's first game out of the lineup, and he had a season-high 27 points while hitting all 12 shots against the Lakers. He's averaged 15.0 points on 53.1 percent in the last 10 games.

His starting backcourt mate over the last three games has been former Spurs guard Ray McCallum, who signed a second 10-day contract with Memphis on Tuesday.