San Antonio @ Phoenix preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 29, 2019 ) Phoenix 124, San Antonio 126

The San Antonio Spurs seemed to have turned a corner with back-to-back home wins over Houston and Sacramento but took a step back in Thursday's 117-109 overtime home loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Spurs will try to prove that Thursday's performance was an outlier when they face the Phoenix Suns on Saturday in Mexico.

San Antonio was coming off five days off when it fell behind against the lowly Cavaliers and needed to make up a 10-point gap in the fourth quarter before falling in the extra period. The Spurs are riding a string of three consecutive overtime games after knocking off Houston in double-OT last week and squeezing by Sacramento 105-104 before taking on Cleveland. The Suns traded wins and losses over their last six games and head south of the border with a sour taste after suffering a 115-108 loss at home to the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday. "It is a learning lesson for us," Phoenix guard Devin Booker told reporters. "I think this will humble us and let us know, we have to bring it every night regardless of the situation, regardless of what team we are playing, regardless of what night it is - home or away. Through the course of an 82-game season, you need every win that you can get."

TV: 5 p.m. ET, NBATV, FS Southwest (San Antonio), FS Arizona (Phoenix)

ABOUT THE SPURS (9-15): San Antonio is looking for consistent scoring beyond All-Stars DeMar DeRozan and LaMarcus Aldridge and saw flashes that guard Lonnie Walker IV was ready to take on that role. The 20-year-old guard broke out with 28 points on 10-of-18 shooting against Houston but was held to two points against Sacramento and went for 10 points in Thursday's setback. Point guard Derrick White has similar issues with consistency and followed up a scoreless outing with 17 points in 32 minutes on Thursday.

ABOUT THE SUNS (11-13): Phoenix point guard and Spain native Ricky Rubio will be giving his teammates Spanish language lessons during the trip but is more concerned with the team's play on the court and was not pleased by the effort on Wednesday. "It will be a one-time thing," Rubio told reporters after the loss. "It can't happen again. It was one of the worst losses if not the worst loss of the season. The way it happened; we didn't play how we know how to play. We have to learn from that." Rubio collected 22 points and eight assists in the loss, ending a string of three consecutive double-doubles.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Aldridge is 19-of-47 from the floor over the last three games.

2. Phoenix C Deandre Ayton is down to two games left on a 25-game suspension for violating the league's drug policy and is eligible to return Tuesday at the Los Angeles Clippers.

3. San Antonio took seven of the last eight meetings.

PREDICTION: Suns 121, Spurs 106