The Los Angeles Clippers play host to the San Antonio Spurs at Staples Center on Monday.

The Spurs (22-26) own a 10-8 record over their last 18 games and it actually has them right back in the thick of things for the postseason. While it may not sound like anything special, it has them just two games back of the Memphis Grizzlies in eighth. Whats fans are really encouraged by is the competition in that stretch, grabbing wins over teams like Milwaukee, Boston, Toronto, Miami and Utah in that span. That's a brilliant run of victories and it's really promising that they got those tough fixtures out of the way. No one is going to count this team out either, with San Antonio making the playoffs every year since the new Millenium.

The Clippers (34-15) own an 11-4 record over their last 15 games and it has them vying for the top-seed in the Western Conference. They currently sit in second, just 3.5 games back of the Los Angeles Lakers in first. Many people expected the two LA teams to battle atop the conference and it's no surprise that they're up there going into the All-Star break. What makes it really promising for the Clippers is the fact that they haven't been healthy all season. Paul George has missed nearly half of the year to hamstring issues while Kawhi Leonard has been rested regularly for management purposes. It's scary to think that they'll only get better from here on out but they now have to deal with another injury to Montrezl Harrell from over the weekend.

These teams have already played three times this season, with Los Angeles winning two of their three meetings. The last matchup was extremely one-sided, with the Clippers prevailing, 134-109, on December 21.