The annual Rodeo Road trip is on the horizon for the San Antonio Spurs, but first they still have more business to take care of in the Alamo City. The Spurs will resume their three-game homestand Wednesday versus the inferior Charlotte Bobcats.
The Spurs will begin an 18-day, nine-game road trip next week when the annual Stock Show and Rodeo takes over the AT&T Center, where they have won 16 in a row and own an impressive 20-2 record.
San Antonio hasn't tasted defeat at home since Nov. 19 versus the Los Angeles Clippers and opened the homestand with a 108-99 victory over the Phoenix Suns Saturday night. Tony Parker scored 11 of his game-high 31 points to lead the way and was just named Western Conference Player of the Week, averaging 24.5 points and 9.5 assists while shooting .606 (40-66) from the field.
"He is unbelievable," Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said of Parker. "I cannot say he became a fourth quarter finisher this year because of how he played last year, especially in the first two months. But he is in that point of his career where he is so confident. He is doing so good that he can relax a little bit in the first half and then when we need him, he starts making those jumpers and takes over.
Ginobili added 20 points off the bench for the Spurs, who also received 13 points and eight rebounds from Tiago Splitter and have won eight in a row overall. The Spurs rested forward Tim Duncan for a third straight game due to a sore left knee and he is questionable Wednesday.
San Antonio, owners of an NBA-best 36 wins, will close out the homestand Saturday versus Washington and is nearing its franchise-record home winning streak of 22 games set from Dec. 3-March 4 of the 2010-11 campaign.
Charlotte kicked off a five-game road trip with Monday's 93-85 loss against the Chicago Bulls as Kemba Walker and Ben Gordon scored 18 points apiece and Jeff Adrien added 14 points and 10 rebounds in defeat.
"When things weren't going their way on the other end (offense), they did a solid job of defending throughout the entire game," Gordon told NBA.com.
The Bobcats lost for the ninth time in 11 tries overall, and fell to 5-15 as the guest this season. They will also make stops in Houston, Miami and Cleveland on this current road swing.
Charlotte is one of the worst defensive teams in the league and has allowed 102.9 ppg -- 28th in the NBA. It gave up 132 points (132-102) in the first meeting with the Spurs on Dec. 8 and has lost four straight and 14 of the 16 matchups between the teams.
The Bobcats have lost five straight and seven of the eight meetings in the Alamo City.
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