Brooklyn @ San Antonio preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 17, 2018 ) San Antonio 100, Brooklyn 95

The San Antonio Spurs pushed their winning streak to three in a row with a 126-124 triumph over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday, but coach Gregg Popovich wasn't happy about it. The Spurs will try to put together a more complete effort against a stronger team when they host the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday.

San Antonio turned the ball over six times in the fourth quarter against the Suns and needed a buzzer-beater from Rudy Gay to earn the win. "We were really fortunate to win the game," Popovich told reporters. "I thought that they outplayed us, outcoached us, outphysicaled us, outexecuted us. We had no respect for them or for the game. We didn't play with each other. It was a pathetic performance, and Phoenix got robbed." The Nets come in hot with wins in seven of their last eight games but had to grind out a 122-117 home win over the Chicago Bulls on Tuesday. "Grinding it out, keeping our head above water," Brooklyn coach Kenny Atkinson told reporters. "Toward the All-Star break, everybody's fatigued. They're fatigued, we're fatigued. We just found a way (and) it wasn't pretty at all. ... You look back on the end of the season and say that was a big win, so we knew it was important."

TV: 8:30 p.m. ET, YES (Brooklyn), FS Southwest (San Antonio)

ABOUT THE NETS (28-24): Brooklyn's charge up the standings is being led by point guard D'Angelo Russell, who scored 24 of his 30 points in the second half on Tuesday. The 22-year-old is averaging 23.7 points on 48.9 percent shooting and 7.1 assists while leading the team to an 11-3 record in January. "I give him a lot of credit for the teaching moments," Russell told reporters of Atkinson. "My knowledge and IQ really rose to another level just from learning from my mistakes and him breaking it down and us (dissecting) the film together."

ABOUT THE SPURS (30-22): San Antonio averaged 128 points in winning its last three games but is not feeling great about its performances, especially at the defensive end. "We're just not as physical as we were when we were really playing well," Spurs guard Derrick White told reporters after Tuesday's win. "We have moments where we're doing the right things, but we haven't been consistent with it." Power forward LaMarcus Aldridge is doing his part and averaged 29 points and 11.7 rebounds over the last three games.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Spurs SF Davis Bertans averaged 19.5 points on 14-of-25 shooting in two games after sitting out a pair for personal reasons.

2. Nets reserve PG Shabazz Napier posted his first back-to-back 20-point efforts of the season in the last two games.

3. Brooklyn is trying to snap a 15-game losing streak in San Antonio.

PREDICTION: Spurs 123, Nets 118