San Antonio raps Dallas
DALLAS (AP) – The hometown kid ensured that San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich would get a milestone victory in Dallas.
LaMarcus Aldridge scored a season-high 32 points in his hometown and the Spurs beat the Mavericks 9791 on Tuesday night.
Popovich became the fastest NBA coach to 500 road wins. He got there in 835 away games, 41 fewer than Pat Riley. Those two and Don Nelson are the only coaches to win 500 on the road.
Aldridge, a product of Dallas' Seagoville High School, scored eight points during a decisive stretch of the fourth quarter. He's averaging nearly 23 points per game this season while San Antonio has been without starters Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker.
“I think I'm definitely more confident and I'm playing my game more this year,'' Aldridge said. “I think Pop definitely has tweaked some things where I can be myself more out there and play more confident, and it's working out for us.''
Aldridge's coach notices the change in the forward's second year in San Antonio.
“He's been our most consistent player,'' Popovich said. “His effort level every night has been off the charts. He's been a leader for us, helping the younger guys and new guys under- stand the system.''
Patty Mills added a season-high 19 points for the Spurs.
Rookie Dennis Smith Jr. led Dallas with a career-high 27 points, and J.J. Barea and Harrison Barnes had 16 each. The Mavericks are 2-13 for the second straight season and fifth time overall.
Just like in a loss to Cleveland on Saturday, the Mavericks cut a doubledigit second-half deficit to one point, but couldn't gain the lead.
“Every time we made a mental lapse, they got going,'' Barnes said. “We know that is what they are going to do here and capitalize every time we made a mistake.''
After Dallas got within 62-61 early in the fourth, Mills hit a long 3 and a driving layup, then Aldridge scored eight of his team's next 13 points to put the Spurs up 82-71 with 5:03 to play. Dallas never got closer than four points down the stretch.
In Houston, DeMar DeRozan scored 27 points and the Toronto Raptors built a big lead in the first half and held on for a 129-113 win over the Houston Rockets.
James Harden had 38 points and made 19 of 19 foul shots for the Rockets, who ended a six-game winning streak.
Houston scored six straight points, including three free throws from Harden, to make it 108-103 with about 7 1/2 minutes left.