The San Antonio Spurs take their nine-game winning streak and hopes of catching the Oklahoma City Thunder atop the Western Conference standings on the road when they tip off a three-game trip in San Francisco against the Golden State Warriors on Wednesday night.
The Spurs (57-18) head west 2 1/2 games behind the Thunder (60-16) but holding the tiebreaker, should that be needed to determine the No. 1 seed in the West entering the playoffs.
San Antonio also will visit two hot teams — the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets — on the four-day trip. The Spurs will then finish the regular season with four straight at home.
If the Spurs wind up coming one or two games short of catching the Thunder, they might look back on a pair of home losses to Golden State over a three-day span in November.
The Warriors had Stephen Curry and Jimmy Butler III available for those games and watched them combine for 74 points in a 125-120 victory, then 70 in a 109-108 rematch win.
Butler was lost for the season to a torn ACL on Jan. 19, with the Warriors (36-39) having gone 11-20 since then to fall into 10th place in the West.
Curry has missed the last 25 games with knee soreness (the Warriors have gone 9-16). While Golden State has announced he’s been making progress toward a return, no date has been given. He already has been ruled out Wednesday.
Also at stake over the regular season’s final 12 days will be the NBA’s yearly awards, including most valuable player, with San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama making a late push for consideration.
Having already missed 14 games and within four of becoming ineligible for postseason honors, Wembanyama played in 15 of 16 in March, leading the Spurs to a 14-1 record in those games by averaging 26.8 points, 12.0 rebounds and a league-best 3.7 blocks.
The young star put on one of the best performances of his career in Monday’s 129-114 home win over the Chicago Bulls, compiling 41 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks in just 31 minutes.
Afterward, he assured listeners that his focus is on the team’s success, not an awards race.
“We got a healthy locker room,” he said to the media after the Spurs’ 25th win in their last 27 games. “We’re just happy as a whole because we get along on and off the court. Anything is possible.”
In their bid to overtake the Portland Trail Blazers for ninth place in the West, the Warriors saw a three-game winning streak come to an end Sunday in Denver, losing 116-93. The San Antonio game opens a five-game homestand, where Golden State has won two in a row.
Big man Kristaps Porzingis has been the driving force in Golden State’s improved play of late, having averaged 22.5 points on 49.1% shooting overall and 50.0% 3-point accuracy in his last four games.
Despite never having been in a game at the same time as point guard Curry since joining the Warriors in February, he credits the 12-time All-Star and two-time league MVP.
“He has changed the game,” Porzingis told reporters. “To be on the same team, just to be around him, even without playing, it’s pretty cool. To learn from him, hear how he sees the game, it’s something you don’t take for granted.”
