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 Kawhi Leonard poured in 27 points as the San Antonio Spurs shrugged
off a ragged first half and ran away from the Detroit Pistons 97-81
on Wednesday, winning their sixth straight game and remaining
unbeaten at home this season.
San Antonio (51-9) improved to 29-0 at the AT&T Center this season,
extending its record for the best home start by a Western Conference
team. It was the Spurs' first game at home since Feb. 6 because of
their annual Rodeo Road Trip and it took them a while to find their
stride.
LaMarcus Aldridge added 23 points and pulled down a team-high 10
rebounds for the Spurs as four of their starters scored in double
figures. Tim Duncan hit for 12 points and gathered eight rebounds in
20 minutes of court time and Tony Parker scored 10 points for San
Antonio.
The Spurs, up by one point at halftime, turned up their defense in
the third quarter as Detroit shot just 22 percent from the floor and
trailed by as many as 17 points. Aldridge scored 13 points in the
period.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was pleased with his team's effort on
defense after halftime.
"It was very good," Popovich remarked in his succinct manner. "We
allowed 30 points in the second half. It's pretty special if you can
do that. We played a better second half for sure."
San Antonio clinched its 19th straight playoff appearance, tying the
Boston Celtics (1951-69) for the fourth-longest streak in NBA
history. It's the fewest games needed to clinch a post-season spot
in franchise history, excluding strike-shortened seasons.
Aldridge claimed he was not aware that the team clinched a playoff
spot.
"It's something that's not been talked about in our locker room and
I haven't really been paying attention because I try to stay locked
in to what we are doing," Aldridge said. "It's not about (the
milestones). We have a bigger picture in mind and the guys are
focused on that."
"In the second half we were more active defensively," Aldridge
added. "We were able to keep guys in front of us and we competed
harder."
The victory also allowed the Spurs to lengthen their regular-season
home victory streak to 38 games, dating back to an overtime loss to
Cleveland last March, and built on their best start in franchise
history after 60 games.
The Spurs own the second-longest active playoff streak among the
four major professional sports trailing only the NHL's Detroit Red
Wings (24).
Tobias Harris and Marcus Morris scored 16 points each to lead
Detroit while reserve Aron Baynes added 12 points and Reggie Jackson
hit for 11. Andre Drummond took a game-high 14 rebounds for the
Pistons.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak by the Pistons (31-30).
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"San Antonio plays great defense but we were very individual on
offense in the second half," Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy said. "We
didn't play together, we didn't move the ball, we didn't get second
or third options and we played a lot of one on one and forced shots.
If you do that against a good defensive team like them, you have no
chance."
Leonard and Aldridge played the entire first quarter and combined
for 17 of the Spurs' points as San Antonio ground out 28-19
advantage after 12 minutes of play. Leonard poured in 11 points in
the quarter, including a short jumper with 3.3 second left to grant
the Spurs their lead.
San Antonio sent all reserves to the floor to begin the second
quarter and the group went scoreless for the first 2:47 of the
period, allowing the Pistons to push to a 32-28 lead on a jumper by
Morris. The Spurs bench finally responded, as Kyle Anderson and
Boris Diaw scored five points each to put San Antonio back in front.
Detroit rolled off a 12-0 run with the help of 3-pointers from
reserves Steve Blake and Reggie Bullock, and a running one-hander by
Jackson. The Pistons' charge caught San Antonio's attention and
Leonard had six points in a 12-5 spurt that handed the Spurs a 52-51
lead at halftime.
The third quarter belonged to the Spurs, who outscored Detroit 27-14
and pushed their lead to 79-65. It also marked the first appearance
in a San Antonio jersey by veteran guard Andre Miller, who was
signed by the Spurs on Feb. 29 after he was waived by the
Timberwolves four days earlier.
"The ball just got stuck and San Antonio made us pay for not making
them work," Jackson said. "They continued to find good shots and
forced us into bad shots and turnovers. We stopped moving the ball.
Sometime you think you have a shot you think you can make when you
should make the pass instead -- we were guilty of that tonight."
Prior to the game, the Spurs' Manu Ginobili announced that he's been
cleared to return to practice after undergoing testicular surgery
Feb. 4 from an injury suffered the night before against New Orleans.
He went through shoot-around with the Spurs on Wednesday, but the
team will hold him out of game action until at least next week.
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