San Antonio beat Golden State in battle of reserves, Latest Basketball News - The New Paper
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San Antonio beat Golden State in battle of reserves

SAN ANTONIO SPURS GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS
107 85

Patty Mills scored 21 points as the San Antonio Spurs dominated the Golden State Warriors 107-85 yesterday morning (Singapore time) in an NBA showdown that lacked star power.

Mills scored all his points in the first half for the Spurs, whose 20-point half-time lead allowed them to cruise through the second half at the San Antonio AT&T Center arena.

The victory moved San Antonio to within a half-game of Golden State for the top record in the league and the Western Conference.

The highly anticipated battle between two of the league's marquee teams had play-off implications but, because of injuries to key players, the contest ended up being played mostly by the reserves.

Golden State rested Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson, while Kevin Durant is still out with a knee injury.

San Antonio's Kawhi Leonard (concussion), LaMarcus Aldridge (minor heart arrhythmia), Tony Parker (back stiffness) and DeJounte Murray (left groin tightness) did not feature.

"It's a win we're going to accept and keep, but it wasn't a fair fight," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said.

"They're Golden State - their top four or five players weren't there, if anybody didn't notice.

"We're supposed to win a basketball game like that, and we focused and we did it. We did our job."

The victory was San Antonio's second of the season against Golden State and gives the Spurs the edge if a tie-breaker is needed.

The Spurs and Warriors play once more in the regular season on March 29 in San Antonio.

Over at the Chesapeake Energy Arena, Oklahoma City's Russell Westbrook moved past Wilt Chamberlain for the second-most triple-doubles in an NBA season in the Thunder's 112-104 win over visiting Utah Jazz.

Westbrook collected his 32nd triple-double of the current campaign with 33 points, 11 rebounds and 14 assists - his third triple-double against the Jazz this season.

That's the most NBA games with double-digit totals in three or more statistical categories in more than half a century.

Westbrook has 16 games remaining to complete nine more triple-doubles and equal the all-time mark of 41 set by Oscar Robertson in the 1961/62 season.

That season by Robertson, known as "The Big O" then, was also the only campaign when an NBA player averaged a triple-double over an entire season.

Robertson averaged 30.8 points, 12.5 rebounds and 11.4 assists a game over 79 contests in that campaign.

Westbrook leads the NBA with 31.9 points a game this season, ranks 12th with an average of 10.5 rebounds and third in assists with 10.1 a game over 66 appearances for the Thunder (37-29). - AFP



OTHER RESULTS

  • LA Clippers 112 Philadelphia 100, Detroit 112 New York 92, Charlotte 122 New Orleans 125 (OT), Orlando 104 Cleveland 116, Miami 104 Toronto 89, Milwaukee 102 Minnesota 95, Dallas 98 Phoenix 100, Memphis 90 Atlanta 107, Portland 124 Washington 125 (OT), Sacramento 92 Denver 105.
NBAGOLDEN STATE WARRIORSSan Antonio Spurs