Spurs beat Warriors in battle of reserves

LOS ANGELES, USA – Patty Mills scored 21 points as the San Antonio Spurs dominated the Golden State Warriors 107-85 Saturday, March 11 in a NBA showdown that lacked in star power. 

Mills scored all his points in the first half for the Spurs, whose 20-point halftime lead allowed them to cruise through the second half at the San Antonio AT&T Center arena.

The victory moved San Antonio to within a half-game of Golden State for the top record in the league and the Western Conference. 

Both teams were missing their star players, either by plan or by injury. 

The highly-anticipated battle between two of the league’s marquee teams had playoff implications, but because of injuries to key players, the contest ended up being played mostly by the reserves.

Golden State rested Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson, while Kevin Durant is still out with a knee injury.

San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard (concussion), LaMarcus Aldridge (minor heart arrhythmia), Tony Parker (back stiffness) and DeJounte Murray (left groin tightness) did not dress.

“It’s a win we’re going to accept and keep, but it wasn’t a fair fight,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said.

“They’re Golden State – their top 4 or 5 players weren’t there, if anybody didn’t notice. We’re supposed to win a basketball game like that, and we focused and we did it – we did our job.”

The victory was San Antonio’s second of the season against Golden State and gives the Spurs the edge if a tiebreaker is needed.

The Spurs and Warriors play once more in the regular season on March 29 in San Antonio. 

Elsewhere, LeBron James recorded a triple-double with 24 points, 13 assists and 12 rebounds as the Cleveland Cavaliers defeated the Orlando Magic 116-104 to end a three game losing skid.

James recorded his second consecutive triple-double, his career-high ninth of the season and the 51st of his career.

“LeBron played at an unbelievable level once again, and we all just followed suit,” said point guard Kyrie Irving. “We just did a great job being there for one another and communicating.” 

The Magic tied the game once in the third quarter but that was as close as they would get as Cleveland never trailed in the second half.

J.R. Smith scored 11 points and Deron Williams scored 10 points, including seven in the fourth quarter. Channing Frye tallied 12 points.

Nikola Vucevic led the Magic with 20 points and a game-high 16 rebounds. Evan Fournier scored 15 points. Aaron Gordon had 16 points and Terrence Ross finished with 11 points.

The Cavs play against the Rockets in Houston on Sunday.

Season high

In Los Angeles, Chris Paul scored a season-high 30 points and DeAndre Jordan added 19 points and 20 rebounds as the Los Angeles Clippers defeated Philadelphia 112-100.

Los Angeles won its fourth game in its last five. The victory was their 11th in their last twelve games against Philadelphia as they pulled to within one game of the Utah Jazz for fourth place in the Western Conference.

Richaun Holmes had a career-high 24 points and 10 rebounds with Dario Saric adding 16 points for the 76ers. – Rappler.com