San Antone: The Gait Toward Eight

The Raptors were this close to snatching a win in San Antone. Things looked good early for the visiting Toronto Raptors in this bittersweet first meeting of last year's NBA Finals, with Kyle Lowry setting up a fluent alley-oop for DeMarr DeRozan, whose shot got going by itself after a thrilling dunk on the fast break. The Spurs would rally and ultimately get the victory, as Rudy Gay found Patty Mills in the corner for the go-ahead 3PTer to the roar of the Texas crowd. Another memorable highlight came when Kawhi Leonard (27 points, 2 steals) dunked past Jonas Valanciunas in the tight second half. Patty Mills finished with 22 points on his four 3PTers. Rudy Gay delivered 15 points with Iman Shumpert dropping 10 points. Avery Bradley had 9 points with 3 steals, making Kyle Lowry's night a tough one (1-7, 3 points, 9 assists). Kyle O'Quinn had 7 rebounds off the bench, combining with Joakim Noah for 13 overall. It was Jonas Valanciunas dominating down low, however, w

Joakim Noah had a strong outing against his former team. Joakim Noah returned to the Windy City to square off against one of his former teams, notching 15 points and 12 rebounds with 2 steals and 3 blocks, going 6-6 from the field. Kawhi Leonard led the way with 24 points, making four 3PTers. Rudy Gay contributed 15 points, Patty Mils had 11 points with 7 assists as did Pau Gasol. A strong second quarter revitalized the Spurs after a slow start of 18-27 after quarter one. For the Bulls, Zach LaVine had 20 points on just 6-16 shooting and 2-8 from deep. Kris Dunn had 17 points with 6 assists and Robin Lopez chipped in 16 points with 7 rebounds. New Bulls member Jabari Parker had only 9 points with Denzel Valentine a cold 3-11 on the night. The Spurs made 13 three-pointers with Chicago only making five, with San Antonio dominating the paint and bench points (49-26).