Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge each had 22 points as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Portland Trail Blazers 118-110 on Thursday night to secure the second-best home start to a season in league history.
The Spurs have won 34 straight at home to open the season and only trail the 37 wins by the Chicago Bulls during their historic 72-victory season in 1995-1996.
A dominant third quarter enabled San Antonio to sit their starters for much of the fourth quarter in advance of yesterday’s showdown with the Golden State Warriors. The Warriors and the Spurs have both clinched playoff berths and division titles and are on pace to finish with two of the three best single-season records in league history.
In Indianapolis, DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry each scored 28 points to lead the Toronto Raptors over the Indiana Pacers 101-94 in overtime.
DeRozan had 10 points in the fourth quarter. He had a chance to win the game for Toronto at the end of regulation, but missed a fade-away jumper on the wing as time expired. He has scored at least 25 points in five of Toronto’s past six games.
Playing their fourth game in five nights, the Raptors kept pace with conference-leaders Cleveland, as Indiana fell to 1-7 in overtime this season.
In Philadelphia, John Wall had 16 points, 14 assists and 13 rebounds for his fourth triple-double of the season as the Wizards held on against the 76ers, 99-94.
Wall made eight free-throws in the final 14.6 seconds to help the Wizards win their third straight following a five-game losing streak that put their playoff hopes in peril.
Charlotte’s Al Jefferson and Kemba Walker each scored 21 points to set up a 109-106 win for the Hornets as the Heat again blew a big lead in Miami.
Nic Batum scored 19 for the Hornets, who now have the same 39-29 record as the Heat in the jam-packed Eastern Conference playoff chase. The Hornets are now 15-3 in their past 18 games.
Charlotte trailed 45-30 in the second quarter, then took the lead by halftime and held it for most of the second half. It was the 10th time this season Miami lost a game it had led by double figures, with six of those coming at home.
Charlotte’s Jeremy Lin made four straight free throws in the final seconds.
In other games, it was:
‧ Bulls 118, Nets 102
‧ Hawks 116, Nuggets 98
‧ Bucks 96, Grizzlies 86
‧ Jazz 103, Suns 69
Additional reporting by Reuters
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