The Sacramento Kings play host to the San Antonio Spurs at Golden 1 Center on Saturday.

The Spurs (22-29) enter this matchup losing six of their last eight games and that's put a major damper on any playoff hopes they had. Prior to that, San Antonio was just 1.5 games back of the Memphis Grizzlies in eighth and they've lost three games of ground since then. That most recent stretch says a lot about the struggles of this team though and it's a wonder why it's been such a down season. The most recent slump is definitely due to scheduling, with the Spurs in the midst of their annual rodeo road trip. What makes that even more frustrating is the fact that they have wins over the Celtics, Raptors, Bucks, Heat and Jazz over the last month, emphasizing just how tough the rest of their schedule has been.

The Kings (20-31) are finally starting to play some good ball, entering this matchup winning five of their last seven games. What's really impressive is the fact that they have wins over the Los Angeles Clippers and Miami Heat over their last three victories. That's a real indicator of something changing and it's nice to finally see this team improve. Unfortunately, it may be too little, too late. This club is would have to rip off a 10-game winning streak to be back in playoff contention, with Memphis sitting at .500 in the eight-seed. A club this talented shouldn't be that far behind in the standings but that also makes them a spoiler team over the final two months of the season.

San Antonio won the first meeting between these teams in overtime, 105-104, on December 6. The Kings actually swept the three-game season series last year which ended a reign of the Spurs winning 35 of their previous 37 games over the Kings dating back to 2008.