Kawhi Leonard’s return spoiled as Spurs stumble against Mavs

LOS ANGELES, USA – Kawhi Leonard made his long-awaited return from injury but could not stop San Antonio from an upset defeat in Dallas on Tuesday, December 12 (Wednesday Manila time).

Leonard, who missed the first 27 games of the season due to a thigh muscle injury, made an impressive cameo in his 15 minutes on court, scoring 13 points and pulling down 6 rebounds. 

But when Leonard exited as expected early in the third quarter soon after helping the Spurs into a 55-50 lead, the Mavericks came back into the contest to run out 95-89 winners at the American Airlines Center.

The defeat was a jolt for San Antonio, who fell to 19-9 for the season. The Mavs improved to 8-20, led by 17 points from Harrison Barnes.

At Madison Square Garden, Kristaps Porzingis scored 37 points and had 11 rebounds as the New York Knicks overcame the Los Angeles Lakers 113-109 in overtime.

Enes Kanter had 14 points and 11 rebounds for New York while Knicks rookie Frank Ntilikina added a career-high 13 points.

The Lakers scoring was led by Kentavious Caldwell-Pope with 24 points while Lonzo Ball had 17 points, eight rebounds and 6 assists.

“You have to give them credit for making plays, but as a team you always look at what you can do better as a group, as an individual, and there is a lot tonight that we could have done better to give ourselves a better chance to win that game,” Lakers coach Luke Walton said following the loss.

The Knicks improved to 14-13 with the win. The Lakers are now 10-16 for the season. – Rappler.com