Spurs-Mavericks Preview
The only teams to defeat the San Antonio Spurs in 2016 are the conference leaders.
Almost all the good teams are beating the Dallas Mavericks this year.
The Spurs are among them, and they'll look to blow out their Southwest Division rival for the second time in three weeks behind a surging LaMarcus Aldridge on Friday night in Dallas.
San Antonio (41-8) can match the best 50-game start in franchise history, set in 2010-2011, after notching the best home start in Western Conference history at 27-0 with Wednesday's 110-97 win over New Orleans.
The Spurs' only losses in 18 games since Christmas came Jan. 25 to league-best Golden State and five days later to East-leading Cleveland.
Dallas (28-24) did take the Cavaliers to overtime in a loss Jan. 12 and is one of four teams to knock off the Warriors. However, since beating Golden State without Stephen Curry on Dec. 30, the Mavericks are 9-11, which includes a 2-9 record against teams above .500.
One of those losses came in San Antonio and was their most lopsided of the season, 112-83 on Jan. 17.
''They're a great team. They play hard every single possession," Mavs guard Wesley Matthews said that night. "Everybody that checks into the game plays hard.''
Manu Ginobili won't be checking in for at least the next month. He underwent surgery for a testicle injury suffered Wednesday when he took a knee to an unintentional knee to the groin from Pelicans forward Ryan Anderson.
Tim Duncan could miss a sixth straight game due to a sore knee, but the Spurs haven't missed him this week because of Aldridge's play at both ends.
The All-Star forward set a season high with 28 points against Orlando on Monday, then broke it Wednesday with 36. Aldridge also blocked eight shots in those games and helped limit Pelicans star Anthony Davis to three points in the fourth quarter.
''LaMarcus is feeling more and more comfortable all the time as the season progresses,'' coach Gregg Popovich said.
As the prized offseason acquisition has gotten more used to his new teammates, Aldridge has averaged 19.2 points on 55.7 percent shooting in his last 14 games. His averages were at 15.4 points and 47.1 percent through his first 31.
''The ball has been going in,'' said Aldridge, shooting 64.9 percent in the last four games. ''I'm taking the shots and making them. Playing more confident and more like myself and I think that the team has fed off that energy.''
Aldridge had a game-high 23 points on 9-of-15 shooting against the Mavs last month while outplaying Dirk Nowitzki, who shot 2 of 10 for four points. It matched the lowest-scoring game of Nowitzki's career when playing at least 20 minutes.
The NBA's sixth all-time leading scorer has averaged 10.4 points on 35.1 percent shooting in the last five meetings. The Mavericks have lost the last three, but those were all in San Antonio. The Spurs have lost the last two in Dallas, their only defeats in the past 15 regular-season matchups.
The Mavs are coming off back-to-back losses to the Southeast Division's top teams, 112-97 in Atlanta on Monday and 93-90 to Miami on Wednesday despite Nowitzki's 28 points.
Matthews continues to struggle, averaging 7.8 points in the past six games while going 7 for 34 on 3-point tries.
Dallas' other starting guard, Deron Williams, could miss a second consecutive game with a hip injury. Backup Devin Harris is likely to sit out a seventh straight with a sprained toe.
Those injuries and struggles of the backcourt have played a role in the Mavs averaging 93.8 points in regulation over their past 13 games, though Spurs veteran Tony Parker still considers them to be dangerous offensively.
"They create a lot of different matchup problems with Dirk and stuff like that. They go small," he said. "... We just have to make sure we play good defense and control the basketball."