The San Antonio Spurs will look to get back on the winning track when they host the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday in a Western Conference clash.
The potential return of Victor Wembanyama to the lineup would be a significant boost. The Spurs have dropped a season-worst three straight games—the past two without Wembanyama, who has been sidelined with lower back soreness and is listed as questionable for Sunday’s game. San Antonio’s most recent contest was a 140-113 home loss to the Sacramento Kings on Friday, despite a career-high 30 points from Julian Champagnie.
Stephon Castle added 15 points, Keldon Johnson and Jeremy Sochan each scored 14, and Chris Paul contributed 11 points and 13 assists for the Spurs in Friday’s loss. San Antonio trailed by 10 points at halftime and by 14 points after three quarters, never closing the gap in the final period.
The Spurs were also without guard Devin Vassell, who was sidelined for right-foot injury management, and they lost Zach Collins to an ejection three minutes into the second quarter.
The Pelicans head to the Alamo City for the second game of a back-to-back after a 119-109 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday. This setback marked the 10th loss in the past 11 games for injury-plagued New Orleans, which holds the worst record in the Western Conference at 5-19.
Dejounte Murray led the Pelicans with 26 points, Herbert Jones added 24, Trey Murphy III had 16, and both CJ McCollum and Brandon Boston Jr. scored 11 points each in the loss. Brandon Ingram, the team’s leading scorer with an average of 22.2 points per game, was in his second game back after missing six contests with a calf injury. He had five points before leaving the game 17 seconds into the third quarter with a left ankle issue.
The Pelicans trailed 77-51 at halftime and never got closer than nine points for the remainder of the game. The 77 points allowed in the first half tied for the most given up by the Pelicans in a half this season.
Sunday’s contest is the first of four meetings between the teams this season. The Spurs will travel to New Orleans for back-to-back games on Feb. 23 and 25 before hosting the Pelicans again on March 15.
