Spurs down Hawks
San Antonio tie Warriors for lead in West
Kawhi Leonard shrugged off the aftereffects of a recent concussion to score 31 points as the San Antonio Spurs downed Atlanta to go level with Golden State at the top of the Western Conference on Monday.
Leonard, who had been concussed after a clash with Oklahoma City Thunder guard Victor Oladipo on Thursday, showed no sign of the knock as he led the Spurs to a 107- 99 victory over the Hawks.
The win gave San Antonio an identical 5214 record to Western Conference pacesetters Golden State.
Leonard was backed by an all- round scoring display from his Spurs teammates with David Lee, Danny Green, Patty Mills and Pau Gasol all posting double- figure points tallies.
Leonard also chipped in with five rebounds and four assists as the Spurs claimed backto- back wins following their victory over an under- strength Golden State on Saturday.
For Atlanta, Dennis Schroder led the scoring with 22 points, with Tim Hardaway and Paul Millsap adding 17 and 16 points respectively.
The Spurs lived dangerously at times however, and gave up a season- high 23 turnovers during an uneven performance.
“All teams make mistakes – nobody plays a perfect game,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “But overall, I was pleased with our defense, given the fact that we turned it over 23 times and still held Atlanta below 100 points. I’m really pleased that we continued to guard and hustle the way we did despite being sloppy with the ball.”
Elsewhere, Karl- Anthony Towns poured on 39 points as the Minnesota Timberwolves pulled away for a surprisingly comfortable 119- 104 win over the in- form Washington Wizards.
Ricky Rubio scored 22 points and added 19 assists for Minnesota as Washington slipped to 41- 25 for the season. The Timberwolves have now won eight of their past 12 games.
Washington’s scoring was led by John Wall with 27 points, while Bradley Beal contributed 20 points despite a wayward shooting performance that saw him make just seven of 21 attempts.
In Toronto, DeMar DeRozan scored 25 points with six rebounds and two assists to guide the Raptors past the Dallas Mavericks 100- 78.
The Raptors improved to 39- 28 after losing their two previous games.
Toronto effectively settled the contest in the third quarter, building a 13- point lead which was soon stretched to 22 points in the fourth quarter after Fred VanVleet’s three- pointer.
In Charlotte, the Chicago Bulls ended a five- game losing streak with a 115- 109 win over the Hornets after Rajon Rondo’s 20- point haul.
The veteran added seven points and six assists and was the key figure in helping Chicago’s sputtering offense find its rhythm again.