The San Antonio Spurs will look to get back to winning when they host the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday in a Western Conference matchup.
The return of Victor Wembanyama could provide a boost for the Spurs.
San Antonio has lost three games in a row, their longest losing streak of the season. The past two games were without Wembanyama, who is dealing with lower back soreness and is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game. In their last game, the Spurs were defeated 140-113 at home by the Sacramento Kings on Friday, despite Julian Champagnie scoring a career-high 30 points.
Stephon Castle added 15 points, and Keldon Johnson and Jeremy Sochan each scored 14. Chris Paul finished with 11 points and 13 assists. The Spurs were down by 10 at halftime and 14 after three quarters, and they never got any closer to the Kings after that.
“We can clean up in all areas,” said acting coach Mitch Johnson. “(Allowing) 140 points is not anywhere near what we expect of ourselves. Transition defense or one defense has been probably the most disappointing. Our one-on-one defense has been better and should be better and will be better.”
The Spurs also missed guard Devin Vassell, who is out with a right-foot injury, and lost Zach Collins to an ejection three minutes into the second quarter.
“We’ve just got to continue to help each other,” Paul said. “We just got to continue to watch games, try to learn people’s tendencies and team’s tendencies. As we get better at that, we’ll continue to get better.”
The Pelicans will head to San Antonio after losing 119-109 to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday. That was their 10th loss in the last 11 games, leaving them with the worst record in the Western Conference at 5-19.
Dejounte Murray led the Pelicans with 26 points, Herbert Jones scored 24, Trey Murphy III had 16, and CJ McCollum and Brandon Boston Jr. scored 11 each in the loss.
Brandon Ingram, the team’s leading scorer (22.2 points per game), was playing in his second game back after missing six games due to a calf injury. He scored five points before leaving the game 17 seconds into the third quarter with a left ankle injury.
The Pelicans were down 77-51 at halftime and never got closer than nine points for the rest of the game.
The 77 points they allowed in the first half tied for the most they’ve given up in a half this season.
“It was an unacceptable start, committing turnovers, allowing a team to score 42 points in (the second quarter) in your building,” said New Orleans coach Willie Green. “We have to be better for 48 minutes. In the second half, we decided that we were going to come out and compete. That’s really who we are. We’ve got to do it for 48 minutes. Not one half.”
Sunday’s game is the first of four matchups between the Spurs and Pelicans this season. The Spurs will visit New Orleans for back-to-back games on February 23 and 25, then host the Pelicans again on March 15.
