Aldridge, Ginobili rescue Spurs against Celtics

SAN ANTONIO — Manu Ginobili hit a 3-pointer with 5 seconds remaining and the San Antonio Spurs overcame Kyrie Irving’s 36-point effort to beat Boston 105-102 on Friday night, snapping the Celtics’ four-game winning streak.

Ginobili set up the winning basket by sneaking into the paint for an offensive rebound with 25 seconds left.

LaMarcus Aldridge had 27 points and 10 rebounds for San Antonio.

Irving, who scored a career-high 57 points against San Antonio in 2015 while with Cleveland, created havoc again at the AT&T Center. Irving finished 13 for 21, including 6 for 10 on 3-pointers, but missed his final two 3s. His final 3-pointer rattled in and out as the buzzer sounded.

The Spurs, already without Kawhi Leonard and Kyle Anderson, lost Danny Green in the first half. Green left with tightness in his left groin. There was no update on the severity of the injury.

Pau Gasol had 14 points and 11 rebounds, Rudy Gay had 15 points, and Tony Parker added 11 for the Spurs. The Spurs are undefeated with Parker in the lineup through six games.

San Antonio held Boston to one field goal in the opening four minutes of the final quarter to erase a five-point deficit to set up the last-second dramatics.

Jayson Tatum had 20 points, and Jaylen Brown added 15 for the Celtics.

Boston scored the game’s first 11 points, prompting San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich to call a timeout and make mass substitutions during the run. Irving hit two more 3-pointers after the initial run, and Popovich drew a technical foul.

The Spurs’ first lead on a fallaway 3-pointer by Ginobili at the close of the first half for a 56-55 advantage.

Brown had 10 points in the third, including two monstrous dunks late in the quarter that awed the crowd.

TIP-INS

Celtics: Forward Marcus Morris was listed as questionable while rehabilitating his left knee, but felt comfortable enough during pre-game warmups to play. Morris finished with five points in 25 minutes after being listed. … Boston suffered its first loss to a Western Conference after winning eight straight. … The Celtics are 10-3 on the road, trailing only Houston (11-1) and Golden State (11-3) for the league’s best road record.

Spurs: Popovich would not confirm a report by the San Antonio Express-News that Leonard will make his season debut Saturday in Phoenix. “Sooner rather than later,” Popovich said, repeating the answer he has given all season about the All-Star forward’s return. … Parker has played 36,000 career minutes as a starter, 24th in league history. … Ginobili has played 26,000 minutes in his career, all with the Spurs, the fourth most in franchise history behind Tim Duncan, Parker and David Robinson. … Green has 500 steals and 401 blocks in his career. Green, LeBron James and Kevin Durant are the only players since 2009 with 500 steals, 400 blocks and 800 3-pointers.

UP NEXT

Celtics: Visit Detroit on Sunday night in a battle between two of the top four records in the Eastern Conference.

Spurs: Visit Phoenix on Saturday night in what could be Leonard’s season debut.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Leonard scores 31 as Spurs thrash slumping Lakers

Kawhi Leonard poured in 31 points in just three quarters as the San Antonio Spurs dominated in every facet of play Thursday with a emphatic 134-94 blowout of the Los Angeles Lakers.

San Antonio’s 134 points were a season high, as were the 72 points scored by the Spurs in the first half and the overall margin of victory of 40 points.

Pau Gasol added 22 points for San Antonio, while LaMarcus Aldridge and Tony Parker added 13 each, all in just three quarters of the lopsided game.


The Spurs also got 12 points from Jonathan Simmons and 10 from Dejounte Murray and a game-high 12 rebounds from Dewayne Dedmon.

San Antonio was in a bad mood heading into Thursday’s home game after losing by three points to the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday.

The Spurs took out their frustrations on a meek Laker team as four of San Antonio’s starters finished in double figures at AT&T Center.

“I respect the way the Spurs played tonight — granted we didn’t put up a ton of fight — but it’s beautiful to see championship teams and the way they came out after one loss,” Lakers coach Luke Walton said.

“How (that loss) made them play and how sharp they were — there’s a lot to learn from being in this game, from watching them. I didn’t think we showed up to meet the challenge.”

All 13 players who took the floor for San Antonio scored, and the Spurs (31-8) outshot Los Angeles 60 percent to 41 percent.

“You always want to handle a loss by bouncing back the next night,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

The lowly Lakers dropped to 15-28 on the season. They were once the “Showtime” darlings of the NBA but have been on a steady downward spiral ever since the passing of club owner and team architect Jerry Buss in 2013.

The Lakers were led Thursday by Julius Randle’s 22 points, but the rest of Los Angeles’ starters managed just 20 total points.

In New York, Tyreke Evans scored 14 of his season-high 29 points in the fourth quarter and the New Orleans Pelicans overcame the absence of Anthony Davis with a 104-95 victory over the Brooklyn Nets.

Evans made 10 of 15 shots in a season-high 27 minutes. He missed the first 26 games of the season while recovering from knee surgery.

Season-high total

It was the first time he scored more than 25 points since January 10 against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Davis missed his second game of the season because of a left hip injury.

The Pelicans received little help from centers Omer Asik and Donatas Motiejunas, who combined for one point on zero-of-seven shooting.

Elsewhere, Klay Thompson and Andre Iguodala connected on a pair of three-pointers apiece during a long-range shooting exhibition that powered the Golden State Warriors to a 127-107 win over the Detroit Pistons.

Riding double-figure scoring from four starters, the Pistons were down 68-65 in the fourth minute of the third period before the Warriors stepped up their play to earn a season-series sweep.

source: sports.inquirer.net

NBA: Spurs stretch home win streak with Warriors up next

LOS ANGELES—Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge each scored 22 points and the San Antonio Spurs beat Portland 118-110 Thursday, boosting their home record this season to 34-0 and stretching their overall NBA home win streak to 43 games.

French guard Tony Parker added 18 points and 16 assists, his most since 2012, while Australia’s Patty Mills came off the bench to contribute 17 points in the triumph, which improved the Spurs to 58-10 this season.

Not since falling to the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 12 of last year have the Spurs been defeated in San Antonio.

But that streak will receive a major test Saturday when the Spurs host the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors, the first of three meetings between the Western Conference powerhouses over the final month of the season.

The Warriors have lost 32 games in a row in San Antonio. Golden State has not beaten the Spurs in San Antonio since February 14, 1997, when Warriors star Stephen Curry was eight years old.

The Spurs’ streak is the third-longest in NBA history behind a 44-game Chicago run in 1995-96 and the ongoing streak of Golden State, which has won 50 home games in a row over two seasons.

San Antonio’s 34-0 home start is the second best home run to open an NBA season, trailing only the 37 in a row by Chicago in 1995-96.

Golden State, which is 61-6 and chasing Chicago’s 1995-96 team’s 72-10 mark for the all-time best season in NBA history, could move past both those home marks this season but have not yet played enough home games.

The Spurs led 56-54 at half-time then scored the first 10 points of the third quarter and surged ahead by as much as 19 in the period. Leonard scored 11 points in the third quarter to spark the run and San Antonio never looked back to the finish.

Hornets get rare Miami win



At Miami, Kemba Walker had 21 points, seven assists and seven rebounds as the Charlotte Hornets rallied from a 15-point deficit to beat the host Heat 109-106. Al Jefferson added 21 points and 10 rebounds as the Hornets broke a 12-game losing streak in games at Miami.

Britain’s Luol Deng led the Heat with 22 points and nine rebounds, but left the game with a bloody mouth after colliding in the final seconds with Jeremy Lin, who made four late free throws to secure victory for the Hornets.

Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan each scored 28 points to lift the Toronto Raptors over host Indiana 101-94 in overtime. The Raptors improved to 46-21, while the Pacers fell to 1-7 in overtime games and slid to 36-32 overall.

John Wall had 16 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds — his seventh career NBA “triple-double” — while Marcus Thornton scored 18 points to spark the Washington Wizards past host Philadelphia 99-94. The Wizards improved to 33-35, 1 1/2 games behind Chicago for the last Eastern Conference playoff berth.

At Chicago, Doug McDermott came off the Bulls bench to score 25 points and lead the hosts over Brooklyn 118-102. Jimmy Butler scored 22 points and passed out seven assists for the Bulls.

Tim Hardaway produced 21 points in his first Atlanta start to lead eight double-figure scorers for the Hawks in a 116-98 victory over visiting Denver.

At Milwaukee, Giannis Antetokounmpo scored 15 points and added 11 assists, six rebounds and three blocks as the Milwaukee Bucks beat Memphis 96-86, handing the Grizzlies their fourth loss in a row.

Trey Lyles came off the bench to score 17 points and lead a balanced scoring attack that powered Utah over Phoenix 103-69.

source: sports.inquirer.net

Spurs exact revenge, claim fifth NBA crown

MANILA, Philippines—Revenge was sweet and it was served cold.

With the air-conditioning running fine, and the San Antonio Spurs firing on all cylinders, the 2014 National Basketball Association Finals challengers exacted revenge against the defending champions Miami Heat 104-87 at the AT&T Center Monday.

Kawhi Leonard bagged the 2014 Bill Russell NBA Finals MVP trophy and paced the Spurs with 22 points and 10 boards.

San Antonio lit up in the second quarter after an arctic first period erasing a 16-point lead courtesy of a stop-and-pop three from Leonard that put the Spurs up, 37-35.

Manu Ginobili went on a personal 9-2 run with a step-back three capping the scoring spectacle to put the boards at 45-37.

LeBron James, who bagged the previous two Finals MVP, led all scorers with 31 points, and adding 10 rebounds and six assists while 2006 Finals MVP Dwyane Wade had 11.

Tim Duncan, a three-time Finals MVP, finished off with 14 points and eight boards


Ginobili came off the bench scorching the Heat with 19 points.

source: sports.inquirer.net