The San Antonio Spurs play host to the Portland Trail Blazers at AT&T Center on Friday.

The Trail Blazers (31-23) suffered a really tough loss on Tuesday, getting beat by the Boston Celtics, 116-115. That was a game that went back and forth all night, but it marked the Trail Blazers fourth loss in their last five games. All four defeats came against tough competition, while the one victory came against a disastrous Detroit Pistons team. Where they've really been hurting is on the defensive end of the floor. The Trail Blazers currently sit 29th in defensive efficiency ratings, and it just seems to be getting worse the deeper into the season we get. Getting Jusuf Nurki back from injury is a big boost to that, but he's been limited in his return as well.

The Spurs (26-27) have hit a wall recently, too, losing 11 of their last 15 games coming into this matchup. That has turned them from a clear-cut playoff team into a club battling to make it into the play-in. They now sit 10th in the Western Conference, with the New Orleans Pelicans right on their heels. Anybody who watches the NBA will tell you that the Pelicans are the more talented team, but the Spurs are obviously the more experienced bunch. The thing San Antonio needs to work on is their frontcourt play. DeMar DeRozan, Dejounte Murray, and Derrick White play well every night, but without LaMarcus Aldridge, they really lack post scoring. Jakob Poeltl has done a nice job filling in for him, but it remains to be seen if that's enough.

These teams played back on January 18, with San Antonio prevailing, 125-104. That gives the Spurs 10 wins in their last 18 meetings with the Trail Blazers dating back to 2015.