Spurs hold Raptors to season-low 82 pts
SAN ANTONIO – Kawhi Leonard had 25 points, LaMarcus Aldridge added 23 and the San Antonio Spurs beat Toronto, 110- 82, on Tuesday night, holding the Raptors to their lowest score of the season.
San Antonio dominated a matchup of teams with the second-best record in each conference, leading by as many as 34 points.
Leonard and Aldridge combined to shoot 19 for 28 from the field, but it was veteran point guard Tony Parker who set the tone for the Spurs.
Parker finished with 15 points and eight assists in 23 minutes.
After scoring the game’s opening basket on a floater, Parker drove the lane and tossed the ball out to Aldridge and Pau Gasol for mid-range jumpers and to Danny Green for a 3-pointer.
The Spurs raced to a 26-10 lead in the opening eight minutes, and the Raptors never recovered.
DeMar DeRozan led Toronto with 26 points, but backcourt mate Kyle Lowry was held to six on 2- for- 9 shooting.
San Antonio fizzled when Parker exited for rest, going scoreless for 5:13 bridging the first and second quarters.
Parker’s return helped set up three straight dynamic plays that put the Raptors on their heels and gave the Spurs their largest lead at 54-32 with 2:28 left in the first half.
Green’s steal and half-court pass led to a one-handed, breakaway dunk for Leonard that revved up the soldout crowd.
Parker dribbled around his back on the run to lose Lowry at the top of the 3-point line, got DeRozan to leap in the paint and then whipped a pass to the left corner for a 3-pointer from Leonard.
Parker then passed under the basket to Aldridge, who tossed it out to Leonard. He faked a shot, dribbled, reset and made a 3 for a 22-point lead.
The Raptors shot 37 percent from the field while failing to reach 90 points for the first time this season.
In Philadelphia, Robert Covington made a fall-away shot off an inbounds pass with 0.2 seconds left to give the Philadelphia 76ers a 93-91 victory over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Sixers needed the late basket after they blew a 26-point lead and seemed headed to overtime. Ricky Rubio, just a 26 percent 3-point shooter, buried one with 1.6 seconds left to tie it at 91.
Dario Saric hit Covington, who had been booed most of the game, for the decisive bucket that sent the crowd of 17,124 into a frenzy.
In other results, Boston clobbered Utah, 115-104; Indiana turned back Detroit, 121- 116; Dallas upended Washington, 113-105; and Phoenix subdued Miami, 99-90.