Suns try to overcome Spurs' home-court mastery
The Phoenix Suns haven't had a whole lot of success in the city where they'll make the final stop on their three-game road trip.
The Spurs will try to extend the NBA's second-longest active home winning streak Monday night with another victory at the AT&T Center over the Suns.
San Antonio (10-3) has opened the season with six home victories, extending its regular-season streak to 15 games -- short of only Golden State's 26. But the Spurs aren't nearly satisfied with how they're winning of late, and they might be without one of their top players against the Suns.
LaMarcus Aldridge was a late scratch from a 92-82 win over Memphis on Saturday with a sprained left ankle. Aldridge, averaging 15.3 points and 9.9 rebounds, is questionable for Monday.
The Suns (7-6) have lost 11 of their last 12 in San Antonio. They are wrapping up a three-game road trip that began with a 114-107 win at Denver behind Brandon Knight's career-high 38 points, followed by Sunday night's 122-116 loss at New Orleans. Phoenix made 17 of 36 3-point attempts against the Pelicans but only 11 of 33 in the paint.
"We have to shoot better than that in the paint if we want to win," coach Jeff Hornacek said. "We didn't have enough stops at the end of the game and they made more plays."
The Suns didn't make nearly enough plays early in games against the Spurs in dropping three of four last season, getting outscored 97-60 in the first quarter. The Suns shot a combined 28.6 percent and missed all 12 of their 3-point attempts in the opening quarter in those four games, and slow starts have also been an issue of late. In their last three games, they've trailed by a combined 31 points after the first quarter.
The Spurs, meanwhile, have held the lead at the end of the first quarter in 18 of their last 19 games at the AT&T Center.
San Antonio had 18 turnovers Saturday's win over Memphis but still managed to rebound from a lethargic 104-90 defeat at New Orleans on Friday that ended their six-game winning streak.
When asked if the turnovers are a sign the team is still growing accustomed to a revamped roster, coach Gregg Popovich responded, "No, it was a sign of a team playing poorly."
Only one of San Antonio's half-dozen opponents at the AT&T Center this season holds a record better than .500 -- Charlotte at 7-6. The list includes 0-14 Philadelphia and 3-11 Brooklyn.
"We are building," Manu Ginobili said. "We really don't care about the record right now. Of course it's good to be 10-3, but we didn't have a super tough schedule, but it's going to get tougher soon."
