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 The Denver Nuggets wish the forward would have sat out for
another night.
Leonard scored 18 points, blocked six shots to go with five steals,
and the San Antonio Spurs beat the Nuggets 99-91 on Sunday night.
"He did a good job at both ends of the floor," San Antonio coach
Gregg Popovich said. "He scored for us and defensively he got his
hands on a lot of balls."
Leonard sat out the previous two games with a bruised right hand and
was cleared to play after a pregame workout.
He overcame the injury with career highs in blocks and steals while
also grabbing eight rebounds and handing out four assists. He
finished one assist shy of the rarely attained five-by-five stat
line.
"I'm just out there playing basketball, trying to make a play," he
said. "I know it's a career high for me on blocks. I was just trying
to do it all tonight."
Forward Tim Duncan had 15 points and nine rebounds for the Spurs,
who held off a late Denver rally for the win.
 San Antonio (17-7) lost two of its last three, including a home loss
to the Lakers in overtime on Friday. The Spurs looked every bit the
defending champions against Denver with a season-high 11 blocks and
forcing the Nuggets into a season-high 21 turnovers.
Leonard was a major disruptive force and even had more blocks than
Duncan.
"He was great all around, although I do believe they gave him some
of my blocks," Duncan said jokingly. "But he was great on defense,
stole the ball a bunch, strong plays inside, he was all over the
place."
Leonard was wearing a big wrap on his hand at his locker, in part
because he aggravated the injury when he fell on it during the game.
"It was painful then," he said. "Fell right on it again and tried to
hop back up and not think about it."
Guard Ty Lawson committed four turnovers in one of his poorest games
in a while. He had six points and 10 assists despite suffering a
laceration over his left eye when he collided with Spurs guard Manu
Ginobili in the second quarter.
Guard Arron Afflalo led Denver with a season-high 31 points but had
a game-high six turnovers. Center Timofey Mozgov had 11 points and
13 rebounds for the Nuggets, who have lost six of seven.
"They got opportunities on the break, they scored and our 21
turnovers for 30 points is just not going to get it done," Nuggets
coach Brian Shaw said. "That's the difference in the game."
Still, Denver (10-14) was in it late thanks to its defense. San
Antonio led 76-66 but missed five straight shots as Denver crept
closer. Nate Robinson's layup midway through the fourth made it
77-72.
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The Spurs' lead hovered around five for the next four minutes before
Ginobili hit a 3-pointer and guard Corey Joseph, starting for the
injured starter Tony Parker, hit a fastbreak layup to push the lead
to 94-84.
"It's hard to get out of that hole down 10 points (at the start of
the fourth) and you use all your energy to get back in the game,"
Nuggets forward J.J. Hickson said. "Then once you're back in the
game, your energy kind of dies."
The Spurs took the lead for good in the second quarter when they
held the Nuggets to 12 points on 5-for-18 shooting. Denver missed
seven straight shots and went 4:23 without a point while San Antonio
turned a one-point deficit into a 41-29 lead.
The Spurs led 45-34 at halftime.
The Spurs stretched the lead to 17 early in the third quarter before
Denver made a run late in the period. A three-point play by Mozgov,
a bucket by Afflalo and a 3-pointer from forward Darrell Arthur cut
the Nuggets' deficit to 67-59.
NOTES: The Spurs were without PG Tony Parker due to a mild left
hamstring injury. Parker missed three games because of the same
injury before returning in Friday's loss against the Los Angeles
Lakers. ... Nuggets F Kenneth Faried missed Sunday's game because of
an ankle injury suffered in Saturday's loss at Houston. ... Spurs
assistant coach Becky Hammon was an All-America player at Colorado
State. ... Nuggets coach Brian Shaw said C JaVale McGee could miss
"significant time" because of soreness around his surgically
repaired left tibia. Shaw said the bone is fine but there is some
weakness with the muscle surrounding the area. McGee has missed 10
of the last 11 games.
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reserved.]
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