Phoenix @ San Antonio preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 9, 2017 ) San Antonio 104, Phoenix 101

The San Antonio Spurs suffered through a disappointing three-game road trip, but the bigger picture is always what is in the team's view. The Spurs will try to pick things up during a brief stop at home when they host the Phoenix Suns on Friday.

San Antonio sat five players on the second night of a back-to-back on Wednesday at Philadelphia, including Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker, and ended up suffering a 112-106 loss to complete a 1-2 trip. That road trip marked the start of a stretch with nine of 11 on the road for the Spurs, who take off for the west coast after Friday's contest and will try to balance injury maintenance and winning again with a back-to-back at Portland and Sacramento on Sunday and Monday. The Suns are in the midst of their own rough stretch after dropping the opener of the two-game road trip 134-111 at Denver on Wednesday that marked a second loss in three games. "The whole night defensively we weren't very good," Phoenix interim coach Jay Triano told reporters. "That's two games in a row where we've kind of relied on scoring to try to beat teams. We're not good enough. We don't have enough depth to do that. We have to be better at the defensive end. We're not executing the way we need to."

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, FS Arizona (Phoenix), FS Southwest (San Antonio)

ABOUT THE SUNS (15-25): Phoenix allows an NBA-high 112.7 points per game and let the Nuggets shoot 62.2 percent from the floor in Wednesday's setback. On the other side of the ball, star shooting guard Devin Booker slumped to 17 points on 4-of-13 in the setback, snapping a string of four straight games in which he scored at least 26 points. Booker managed to stay on the attack at Denver and went 7-of-8 from the line, making him 48-of-54 from the stripe in five games since returning from a groin injury that cost him nine games.

ABOUT THE SPURS (26-13): San Antonio never hesitates to rest its players but still managed to stay in Wednesday's game despite the depleted roster due to the efforts of power forward LaMarcus Aldridge. The 32-year-old played in 38 of the team's 39 games this season and collected 24 points and 14 rebounds at Philadelphia while logging 36 minutes in the second night of the back-to-back. Aldridge got some help on Wednesday from point guard Patty Mills, who made the most of some extra playing time with Parker out and scored a season-high 26 points after totaling four points in the previous two contests.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Phoenix SF Jared Dudley (illness) sat out the last two games and is questionable for Friday.

2. Spurs SG Danny Green (groin) could miss his second straight game.

3. San Antonio took 11 of the last 12 in the series, including the first two meetings this season.

PREDICTION: Spurs 123, Suns 108