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SAN ANTONIO — The San Antonio Spurs don’t lose very often these days.
The Spurs (39-14) have won 10 consecutive games and have overtaken the Thunder as the Western Conference’s top team — a fact that’s not lost on the Jazz (29-27), who are fighting for one of the final playoff spots in the conference.
The Jazz and Spurs play the first game of a unique back- to-back in San Antonio tonight before heading to Salt Lake City for the finale on Monday.
“This is when you get to show how bad you want it, and what your team is made of and what the players are made of,” C.J. Miles said to the Deseret News about the upcoming back-to-back series against the Spurs. “This is when dudes earn their respect and really show how they can lock down and how good we can be."
The Spurs haven’t played a back-to-back against the same team in nearly 12 seasons.
Spurs forward Stephen Jackson said the scheduling quirks have made this season weird.
“Yeah, it’s kind of weird,” Jackson said. “Even with the three games back-to-back-to- back. All this season has been weird. But with the lockout, it’s been crazy, but some kind of way we still have to get it done.”
Miles said this back-to-back will show the character of this Jazz team.
"It shows you what you're made of … how bad you want it. That's pretty much what it's about," he said. "We're gonna go in there and try to win a basketball game, and that's what they're trying to do, too. We want to get in the playoffs, and to get in the playoffs we have to win, so our backs are to the wall."
The Jazz are fighting for their playoff lives, while the Spurs are looking to cement themselves as the best team in the West.
The Jazz are 10th in the West, one game behind No. 8-seed Denver and a game-and-a-half behind No. 6-seed Houston.
The Jazz are coming off a gutsy 104-98 win over the Golden State Warriors on Friday. Devin Harris scored a season- high 28 points, going 5 of 8 behind the 3-point line, while Al Jefferson scored 30 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and added a season-high five blocks.
“I’m just happy to see it tonight,” Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin said to the Associated Press of Harris’ success against Golden State. “He did a great job. He went inside and out, (showed) great patience on offense and took the right shots. And against a zone, that’s how you break it — you make shots from the perimeter.”
The Spurs, meanwhile, are coming off a 128-103 victory over the already eliminated New Orleans Hornets. Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 19 points. No starter for the Spurs played more than 22 minutes.
The Spurs have beaten the Jazz five straight times. The last time the Jazz and Spurs played, the Spurs pulled out a 105-102 victory on Feb. 20 in Salt Lake City. Tony Parker led all Spurs in scoring that night with 23 points. The Jazz are just 2-15 all-time at the AT&T Center.
Tonight's game takes place at 5 p.m. at the AT&T Center in San Antonio and will be televised by Root Sports.
Jarrod is a freelance writer who writes Jazz previews for KSL.com. You can follow Jarrod Hiatt on Twitter at @jarrodhiatt.
