San Antonio @ Oklahoma City preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 2, 2020 ) Oklahoma City 109, San Antonio 103

The San Antonio Spurs have lost the first five games of the annual Rodeo Road Trip and aim to break the slide when they visit the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday. San Antonio led by 23 points with less than 19 minutes remaining on Monday before collapsing and suffering a 127-120 loss to the Denver Nuggets.

DeMar DeRozan was a late scratch Monday due to back spasms and coach Gregg Popovich didn't sound hopeful that the standout shooting guard will be available to play against Oklahoma City in the sixth contest of the eighth-game trip. That isn't good news for a team that is 8-19 on the road and experiencing a tough time on the extended road trip due to arena unavailability for the second straight season - the 1-7 mark 12 months ago was the worst since the rodeo trip began during the 2002-03 season. The Thunder had won nine of 10 games before suffering a 112-111 home loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday. "We competed very well. I think defensively we played all together offensively as well," reserve guard Dennis Schroder told reporters afterward. "We lost by one point and, I mean, it feels bad but it’s still good to see that we just lost by one point."

TIME: 8 p.m. ET. TV: FS Southwest, FS Oklahoma

ABOUT THE SPURS (22-31): Power forward LaMarcus Aldridge scored 33 points against Denver for his sixth 30-point effort of the season as well as moving into 50th place in NBA history with 19,527 points. Six other San Antonio players scored in double digits but the Nuggets erupted for 74 second-half points while rallying to the victory. "Everybody played really well. They did the best they could," Popovich told reporters. "There's nothing else I can ask of them, Denver showed a lot of flat-out shooting ability. They knocked them down and we weren't able to keep up."

ABOUT THE THUNDER (32-21): Four Oklahoma City players combined for 92 points versus Boston as forward Danilo Gallinari and guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 24 apiece and point guard Chris Paul and Schroder each scored 22. Schroder has topped 20 points in nine of the past 10 contests and is averaging 24 during the stretch. Gallinari is averaging 21.5 points and seven rebounds in two games since a deal to trade him to the Miami Heat broke down at Thursday's trading deadline.

BUZZER BEATERS

1. The teams split this season's first two meetings.

2. San Antonio backup PG Derrick White (15 points) was just 2-of-10 from the field while sinking all 10 free-throw attempts versus Denver.

3. Gilgeous-Alexander is averaging 22.7 points while connecting on 24-of-42 shots over the past three games.

PREDICTION: Thunder 114, Spurs 103