San Antonio @ Philadelphia preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 23, 2019 ) San Antonio 120, Philadelphia 122

The San Antonio Spurs are in the midst of their longest losing streak in the Gregg Popovich era and are watching the defense crumble with each setback. The Spurs will try to snap the skid at seven in a row and lock down on the defensive end when they visit the Philadelphia 76ers on Friday.

San Antonio is surrendering an average of 123.4 points over the last seven games and allowed the Washington Wizards to shoot 58.7 percent from the floor in a 138-132 setback on Wednesday. "If you score 132 points, you should probably have a pretty good chance to win a game," Popovich told reporters. "The bad news is, if you give up 138, you are not going to win. I'm a really smart guy. I'm figuring that's logical. I could be wrong. There's not much else to say." The 76ers are pulling out of their own funk with wins in back-to-back contests and overcame a 17-point, third-quarter deficit in a 109-104 win over the New York Knicks on Wednesday. Philadelphia has yet to suffer a loss at home and was kicking off a three-game homestand against the Knicks.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, ESPN, FS Southwest (San Antonio), NBCS Philadelphia

ABOUT THE SPURS (5-10): San Antonio looks like a team in danger of watching its streak of 22 straight playoff appearances come to an end but at least is still coming through at the offensive end. Guard DeMar DeRozan scored 31 points on 9-of-13 shooting in Wednesday's loss while Patty Mills made his first start of the season at point guard and went 4-of-6 from beyond the arc. Mills starting means Dejounte Murray was pushed to the bench, and Murray responded with 15 points on 7-of-11 shooting.

ABOUT THE 76ERS (9-5): The highlight of Philadelphia's win on Wednesday was a 3-pointer from point guard Ben Simmons, who went 0-of-17 from beyond the arc to begin his career. "Other people get more excited about it than I do," 76ers coach Brett Brown told reporters of Simmons finally hitting a 3-pointer. "But how can that not be a good thing? And, really, if we're all honest, that's the first legitimate sort of 3 he's taken. A lot of them have been heaves at the end of periods, and stuff like that. But I think his footwork, his confidence, he rose up and he didn't blink. He looked great." Simmons finished with 18 points and 13 assists in his second straight double-double and is shooting 73.9 percent from the floor over his last five contests.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. 76ers SG Josh Richardson (hip flexor) sat out Wednesday and is day-to-day.

2. Spurs PG Derrick White (foot) missed Wednesday's loss and is questionable for Friday.

3. The teams split the two-game series last season, with each protecting home court.

PREDICTION: 76ers 125, Spurs 109