Spurs (5-9) vs. Washington Wizards (3-8)
When, where: Wednesday, 6 p.m., Capital One Arena, Washington, D.C.
All-time series record: Spurs lead 61-33
Last season: Spurs won series 2-0
Last meeting: Spurs 124, Wizards 122, Oct. 26, AT&T Center
Spurs' last game: Lost to Mavericks 117-110, Monday, Dallas
Wizards' last game: Lost to Magic 125-121, Sunday, Orlando, Fla.
Spurs' last 10 games/streak: 2-8, lost six
Wizards' last 10 games/streak: 3-7, lost one
Spurs' injury/inactive report: Forward Drew Eubanks (G League), out; forward Luka Samanic (G League), out; guard Quindarry Weatherspoon (G League), out; guard Derrick White (left foot, soreness), out.
Wizards' injury/inactive report: Guard Chris Chiozza (G League), out; center Ian Mahinmi (right Achilles strain), out; guard Garrison Mathews, Garrison (G League), out; guard/forward Admiral Schofield (G League), out; guard John Wall (left Achilles rehab), out.
Notable: Wednesday night's clash with the Wizards is the second stop in a four-game road trip for the Spurs.
- The Silver and Black end the trip with a back-to-back against Philadelphia and the New York Knicks on Friday and Saturday. The Spurs opened the season with a 120-111 victory against the Knicks on Oct. 23 at the AT&T Center.
- San Antonio hasn't lost six in a row since the 2010-11 season, when it lost six straight in March and April. The Spurs went on to finish the regular season with 61 wins.
- The franchise record for most consecutive losses is 13, set in 1988-89, the season before David Robinson joined the team. The Spurs won their first of five NBA championships 10 years later.
GAME PREVIEW
At this point, the Spurs would settle for a victory against an over-50 men's city league team. Yes, it's gotten that bad.
The Mavericks beat the Silver and Black 117-110 on Monday night in Dallas, extending San Antonio's losing streak to six games, its longest since the 2010-11 season.
But next up on the schedule are the Washington Wizards, who are last in the NBA's Eastern Conference at 3-8. A game against the lowly Wizards may be just what the doctor ordered to get the Spurs out of their funk.
The Silver and Black (5-9) will have to beat the Wizards on the road Wednesday night to avoid losing seven straight for the first time since the 1996-97 season.
For the record, Tim Duncan was a senior at Wake Forest then. San Antonio, which finished 20-62 in 1996-97, selected Duncan with the No. 1 overall pick in the 1997 NBA Draft and the rest, as they say, is history.
For more context on how long ago that was, ponder this: Current Spurs point guard Dejounte Murray, born Sept. 19, 1996, was only 5 months old when the Silver and Black lost seven straight between Feb. 23 and March 5, 1997.
The Spurs, who are 2-9 since starting the season 3-0, talked about the importance of playing with a sense of urgency after the loss to the Mavs on Monday night.
“We don’t have a choice," forward DeMar DeRozan said. "When adversity hits, you can’t let it get you down. Can’t let it frustrate you. Nobody wants to lose. We have to channel that energy and put it in the right place. To do so, we have to understand you have to be desperate to win.”
Second-year Dallas guard Luka Doncic had a stellar game against the Spurs, scoring a career-high 42 points and finishing with a triple-double. Doncic, 20, leads the NBA with six triple-doubles in just 13 games this season.
A 6-foot-7 guard from Slovenia, Doncic joined LeBron James as the only players in league history younger than 21 to have a 40-point triple-double. Doncic also had 12 assists and 11 rebounds against San Antonio.
DeRozan was outstanding in defeat, scoring a season-high 36 points on 14-of-20 shots. He also led the Spurs in rebounding (8) and assists (4).
The Mavs got up by 18 in the first quarter and were up 36-22 at the end of the period and 59-49 at halftime. Dallas, which never trailed, outscored San Antonio 34-30 in the third quarter to lead 93-79 heading into the final period.
The Spurs fought back and drew to within two, 112-110, on a three-pointer by Rudy Gay with 43.6 seconds left. But Doncic sealed the Mavs' victory with a step-back three that put the Mavs up 115-110 with 27.7 seconds remaining.
Popovich was asked about the Spurs' comeback.
“Well, we’re doing two things consistently – we’re offering up 10 or 15 points in a game to start, getting in a hole, and then we’re doing a great job of digging ourselves out and getting back into games," he said. "But a lot of things can happen, like back-to-back we had the trip on the floor (on Demar DeRozan), and we lost the ball, and we got a rebound and it slipped out of one of our guy’s hands and they laid it in.
"Things like that can happen, so going down by a bundle it’s always hard coming back. If we can cut out the former, maybe we can get back on the winning track.”
DeRozan had no answer for the slow starts that have plagued the Spurs.
“I don’t know but we have to get on top of it," he said. "It’s embarrassing that we look up and we’ve given up 30-plus points in the first quarter. We are struggling to try and find a rhythm.
"All of a sudden, we pick it up and play the next three quarters hard. It’s tough when we are spotting somebody a head start in anything you do.”
