San Antonio Spurs vs Sacramento Kings Match Player Stats On Dec 23, 2017

The Sports Xchange
Dec 24, 2017

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Being down two of their starters hardly mattered to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday. Few things ever do when they face the Sacramento Kings.

The Spurs beat Sacramento for the 11th straight time, riding a 29-point, 10-rebound effort from LaMarcus Aldridge, a triple-double from Pau Gasol and terrific guard play to a 108-99 victory at the Golden 1 Center. San Antonio produced 29 assists and committed only eight turnovers.

By doing so, the Spurs (23-11) survived a night without All-Star forward Kawhi Leonard and starting guard Danny Green. Leonard, who has missed 30 games this season because of right quadriceps tendinopathy, sat out to rest as part of his comeback plan. Green had tightness in his left groin.

Gasol, questionable before the contest because of tightness in his right groin, tallied 14 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists in 31 minutes as the Spurs won for the fourth time in five games.

The Kings (11-21), playing without starting guard De'Aaron Fox, received 24 points on 9-for-17 shooting from Buddy Hield and 22 points and 11 rebounds from Willie Cauley-Stein. But the Kings never got closer than six points in the second half after San Antonio closed the second quarter with a 21-9 run.

Rudy Gay scored seven points for the Spurs in his first game back in the city where he played for 3 1/2 seasons. Gay, who averaged 20.1 points in 223 games for the Kings, scored all of his points during a 9-3 spurt to start the final quarter that put San Antonio ahead 93-79.

NOTES: Kings rookie G De'Aaron Fox will miss at least two weeks after suffering a partial tear in his right quadriceps muscle, the team said. He first injured it in a loss at Minnesota on Dec. 14. He has missed three of the Kings' past four games. ... Spurs F Kawhi Leonard has played only four of San Antonio's 34 games this season and already is assured of playing in the fewest games of his seven-season career. Leonard has averaged 10.5 points and 4.8 rebounds in about 17 minutes per game. ... Kings C Zach Randolph needs 17 more assists to reach 2,000 in his career. Randolph went over the 10,000-rebound mark earlier this week and joined Spurs C Pau Gasol and Dallas Mavericks F Dirk Nowitzki as the only active players with 18,000 points and 10,000 rebounds. ... Spurs F LaMarcus Aldridge has led the Spurs in scoring 28 times this season and has scored in double digits in 37 consecutive games. His longest such streak a season ago was 23.