Spurs defeat two foes in Thunder, Rockets.
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| Kawhi Leonard led his Spurs past OKC, then Houston. |
Leonard had 16 of his total 18 points in the first quarter, sitting the second half as the lead grew at San Antonio's leisure. Davis Bertans splashed in a lengthy 3PTer at the 1ST QTR buzzer, the Spurs now leading 37-19. Any time the other team scores nearly 40 in one quarter, the end is near. The Spurs shot 60% compared to OKC's 45%, leading 53-37 at halftime. The Thunder, being at home, made some notable comeback attempts, trimming the lead to seven points and eventually five twice.
In between those moments, the Spurs went up 84-62 after a nice steal by Rudy Gay to Noah for the jam. Gay would also hit a 3PTer to quell the rally, with Westbrook & George both missing feeble 3PT attempts in the final seconds thereafter. Against expectations, Terrance Ferguson went 0-8 from long range, scoring just 13 points along with 10 points by Steven Adams (16 rebounds). One bright spot was Dennis Shroder's performance of 18 points with 6 assists. Overall, the Thunder hit only 7 of 31 shots from deep.
Meanwhile, Dejounte Murray had 13 points; Rudy Gay had 19 points with 8 rebounds; Pau Gasol chipped in 13 points and Patty Mills notched 11 points off the bench. This game did not see the Spurs offense at its best, but that just showed how worse OKC's performance was by comparison.
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| James Harden couldn't quite get his team the win at home. |
The Rockets held a sizable lead due to 54% shooting for most of the game, before the Spurs finally got into a rhythm at 52%. Both teams continued to execute well, but it was San Antone's big run that gave them the advantage despite foul trouble concerns in the third quarter that forced them to relent defensively. The Rockets capitalized, cutting the lead 87-79 to end the period.
With the fourth quarter underway, the Spurs resumed fierce defensive pressure with its slate of team fouls wiped clean once more. Leonard and Shumpert made some nice shot from long range, pulling away again 112-105. The Rockets, true to character, went on a 3PT frenzy capped off by a big-time stuff by Harden with the home crowd at its loudest inside the Toyota Center. This is when Shumpert hit a shot from way outside, having a good night of 20 points, giving the Spurs 118-110 after a fadeaway dagger by Kawhi Leonard along the baseline. Eric Gordon (17 points, 3-9 3PT) made it a six-point game next, but Shumpert was fouled and made both free throws. Houston missed its next chance to score, leading to Dejounte Murray's (16 points, 7 rebounds, 7 assists) victory-sealing layup.
In the 122-112 victory, Pau Gasol had 11 points, 9 rebounds with 5 assists. Kawhi Leonard was the man with 31 points on five 3PT bombs. Rudy Gay delivered 21 points with 2 key steals. Patty Mills got the Spurs going in the second quarter, scoring 9 points, 6 assists and impressing Coach Popovich with 4 uncanny steals. Joakim Noah banged down low with Clint Capela (17 points, 18 rebounds, 3 steals, 1 block) for eight rebounds. Avery Bradley gave Gordon fits for 8 points with 1 steal. Chris Paul had another down night of just 11 points with 11 assists (0-2 3PT, 4-10 FG%). PJ Tucker scored 13 points, with the Rockets (outside of Harden's perfection) missing eight free throws.