The Sports Xchange
Dec 26, 2017
SAN ANTONIO -- Kawhi Leonard scored a season-high 21 points while seeing the court for a season-most 26 minutes as the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Brooklyn Nets 109-97 on Tuesday at the AT&T Center.
San Antonio led 94-86 with 5:05 to play but got two buckets from Leonard, a dunk from Manu Ginobili and a jumper from LaMarcus Aldridge to expand its advantage to 107-95.
Aldridge finished with 20 points and nine rebounds, and Pau Gasol nabbed his third double-double in a row with 15 points and a game-high 12 rebounds for the Spurs (24-11). Tony Parker scored 14 points, and Patty Mills and Ginobili tallied 11 each for San Antonio.
Caris LeVert hit on 8 of 11 shots and led Brooklyn with 18 points. Allen Crabbe contributed 15, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson hit for 13 points and Spencer Dinwiddie and Jarrett Allen had 12 points apiece for the Nets (12-21). Quincy Acy contributed 10 rebounds.
San Antonio extended its regular-season home win streak over the Nets to 15 games, dating to Jan. 22, 2002.
The Nets led 42-41 with 2:18 to play in the second quarter before San Antonio finished the period with a 9-2 run to take a 50-44 advantage to halftime.
Leonard's 14 points in 15 first-half minutes led the Spurs and represented the top point total in his five games this season. He missed 30 contests with a quad injury. Aldridge had 10 points at halftime for San Antonio.
Crabbe and LeVert paced the Nets with just nine points apiece in the first half.
Crabbe's 3-pointer at the 8:55 mark of the third quarter tied the game at 54, but the rest of period belonged to San Antonio. The Spurs ripped off an 11-0 run to forge a 65-54 lead, and the home team led 80-69 entering the final quarter.
NOTES: The Tuesday game was the first time all season that San Antonio had every player on its roster available and healthy. ... Nets coach Kenny Atkinson was assessed a technical foul at the 6:45 mark of the third quarter after coming on the court and vehemently arguing an offensive fouls call on C Tyler Zeller. ... Brooklyn began its seventh set of back-to-back games this season, as the Nets play Wednesday in New Orleans. The Nets are now 4-3 in the first game of back-to-backs in 2017-18. ... The Nets' most recent road win over the Spurs came on June 6, 2003, in Game 2 of the 2003 NBA Finals.