Spurs win battle of reserves over Warriors
los angeles — Patty Mills scored 21 points as the San Antonio Spurs dominated the Golden State Warriors 107-85 Saturday in a NBA showdown that lacked in star power.
Mills scored all his points in the first half for the Spurs, whose 20-point halftime 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. Both teams were missing their star players, either by plan or by injury.
The highly-anticipated battle between two of the league’s marquee teams had playoff 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 dress. “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 tiebreaker is needed.
The Spurs and Warriors play once more in the regular season on March 29 in San Antonio. —