Washington @ San Antonio preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 2, 2016 ) Washington 105, San Antonio 107

The San Antonio Spurs are beginning to pick it up with wins in four straight as LaMarcus Aldridge carries the team with Kawhi Leonard still on the mend. The Spurs will try to make it five straight when it hosts a team locked in its own postseason battle in the Washington Wizards.

San Antonio pushed back into fifth place in the Western Conference entering play on Tuesday, three games ahead of the Los Angeles Clippers and Denver Nuggets tied for ninth, after knocking off Golden State 89-75 on Monday. "I guess we lost enough that we got tired of it," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich told reporters. "So, they've shown a lot more activity just in general, a lot more communication, and activity in the last four games. That's what we did for most of the year, except for that stretch of 10, 11 games. And we've gotten that back. So hopefully, it will continue." The Wizards have been off since holding off Indiana 109-102 on Saturday and sits a half-game behind the Pacers for fourth-place in the East. Washington will not get more than one day off between any of its next 10 games and faces San Antonio twice in the next seven days.

TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN, NBCS Washington, FS Southwest (San Antonio)

ABOUT THE WIZARDS (40-30): Washington would like to jump into the No. 3 spot in the East and is approaching each of the final 12 regular-season games like playoff games. "It's very important," All-Star Bradley Beal told reporters. "We need to make sure that we take care of our bodies, first and foremost. We should be doing everything that we need to do to get better each and every day. We need to approach each game like it is a playoff game. It's going to be here before we know it. We need to make sure that we are good to go mentally and physically. It gets tougher and tougher as the season closes out." A healthy John Wall (knee) would provide a boost, and he is expected to be cleared for full practices by the end of the week.

ABOUT THE SPURS (41-30): Aldridge scored 19 of his 33 points in the fourth quarter on Monday as San Antonio pulled away and added 12 rebounds. "He's great and has been great all year. On the offensive glass, coming up big offensively and making buckets and drawing fouls," San Antonio guard Danny Green told ESPN.com of Aldridge. "Also blocking some shots. He was a rim protector tonight and started that fourth quarter for us. L.A. obviously did what he does, but he also found the open guy and made the right play, which was big for us tonight. Without him, it could be very ugly." Aldridge is averaging 30.3 points on 55.7 percent shooting and nine rebounds during the winning streak.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Spurs PG Dejounte Murray set a franchise record for rebounds in a season by a point guard, grabbing eight on Monday to raise his total to 385.

2. Washington SF Tomas Satoransky is 13-of-22 from the field over the last three games.

3. San Antonio swept the two meetings last season.

PREDICTION: Spurs 103, Wizards 98