SAN ANTONIO (AP) Kawhi Leonard scored 29 points, LaMarcus Aldridge added 19 points and 10 rebounds, and the San Antonio Spurs beat the New York Knicks 106-98 on Saturday night.
San Antonio has won four straight heading into home games against Cleveland on Monday and Golden State on Wednesday. The Spurs (56-16) are two games behind the Warriors (58-14) for the league’s best record.
San Antonio ensured there would not be a repeat of its disappointing 94-90 loss in New York on Feb. 12, but not without some tense moments.
Derrick Rose and Willy Hernangomez each scored 24 points and Hernangomez added 13 rebounds. Mindaugas Kuzminskas had 19 points starting in place of Carmelo Anthony, who missed his second straight game with a sore left knee.
Kristaps Porzingis had 12 points while being limited to 26 minutes due to foul trouble. He picked up his third foul with 3 minutes remaining in the first quarter and his fifth a minute into the fourth but did not foul out.
New York gave San Antonio another scare even without Anthony and a limited contribution from Porzingis.
San Antonio took an 18-point lead at halftime, but New York closed the third on a 13-4 run to cut the deficit to 78-74. Hernangomez had nine points, including a three-point play to open the run.
Leonard and Pau Gasol responded by combining for 13 points in the final quarter to hand New York its 10th loss in 12 games. Gasol finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds.
TIP-INS
Knicks: Anthony has missed four games this season, including three because of a sore left knee. The other game he sat out was due to a sore right shoulder. . New York is 11-29 in 2017, including four losing streaks of three games or more. The Knicks have not won consecutive games since beating Indiana on Dec. 20 and Orlando on Dec. 22. . New York’s starting backcourt of Rose and Courtney Lee outscored San Antonio’s Parker and Jonathon Simmons 30-16. Rose and Lee outscored Parker and Danny Green 27-6 in the team’s first meeting.
Spurs: Gasol became the 10th player in league history with 16 seasons of 600-plus points and 400-plus rebounds. He joined Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Karl Malone, Moses Malone, Dirk Nowitzki, Shaquille O’Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon and Robert Parish. . Leonard has scored in double figures in 99 straight games. . Green was a late scratch, missing the game for rest. Green has sat out two games for rest. … The Spurs joined the Lakers and the Celtics as the only franchises with 55-plus wins in 20 seasons. . Rookie point guard Dejounte Murray missed his eighth straight game with an injured left groin.
NO MOTIVATION NEEDED
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was bemused when a reporter asked if he had to motivate the Spurs late in the regular season considering they clinched a postseason berth three weeks prior.
”I’ve never talked to anyone about, `Hey, you’ve got to get up tonight, we’ve got a game,”’ Popovich said. ”I’ve never done that in 20 years. Why would I do that?”
If they get bored?
”Then I should play someone else,” Popovich said. ”If I have guys that are getting bored, then we’d probably have 10 wins. Why would you have somebody on your team that’s getting bored? Getting paid a gazillion of bucks and they’re bored?”
UP NEXT
Knicks: Host Detroit on Monday night.
Spurs: Host Cleveland on Monday night.
