On a special night for Mills, he sparks Spurs
Australian scores 18, helps San Antonio defeat Heat
SAN ANTONIO — Patty Mills celebrated his heritage Sunday with a performance that typified his career.
Mills provided a late spark, LaMarcus Aldridge scored 21 points and the San Antonio Spurs held off the Miami Heat 107-102 Sunday.
The win came as San Antonio became the first NBA team to hold Indigenous People Night — a meaningful cause to Mills, who is an Australian of aboriginal descent.
“It’s an important night and it’s really important to Patty,” San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. “For the indigenous people here in Texas it’s important to all of us, but it’s sort of double for him because of his history and his background.
“He didn’t play like he did because of that; he does that every night. His energy has been there his whole career. It’s who he is.”
Mills had 18 points and DeMar DeRozan added 20 as San Antonio snapped a twogame skid.
Mills requested the Spurs honor his ancestry as well as those of Native Americans, and the franchise obliged on the eve of Martin Luther King Day.
“Besides basketball, it was a win for us to be able to use basketball as a platform to be able to share culture and traditions and you saw it tonight,” Mills said.
Miami’s Duncan Robinson missed a 3-pointer with 10.2 seconds left and the Heat trailing 105-102. Miami fouled Marco Belinelli, who made both free throws to cap the scoring.
“It’s a big moment,” Robinson said. “I want to make that shot for this team. I didn’t do it. I’m disappointed in myself, but it’s nice to know these guys have my back no matter what.”
Bam Adebayo had 21 points, 16 rebounds and six assists for Miami, which had won its previous two games. Goran Dragic added 19 points and Kendrick Nunn had 18.
Mills fueled a late run by diving out of bounds and throwing the ball off Miami center Meyers Leonard to salvage an offensive possession. With cheers of “Patty, Patty,” still ringing throughout the AT&T Center, Aldridge drained a hook shot to pull the Spurs within 98-97 with 4:39 remaining.
A few possessions later, Derrick White used a backhanded stab to deflect and steal an attempted entry pass at the top of the key by Adebayo. That led to a three-point play by Aldridge for a 102-98 lead with 3:20 remaining.
PACERS 115, NUGGETS 107: In Denver, Domantas Sabonis had 22 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists, Doug McDermott scored 18 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter and Indiana rallied late to beat Denver.
Malcom Brogdon and T.J. Warren added 22 points each for the Pacers, who snapped a 10-game skid at the Pepsi Center. They overcame a 30-point performance from the Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic to win their fifth straight overall.
Jerami Grant and Will Barton added 16 points apiece for the Nuggets, who were again without injured starters Paul Millsap, Gary Harris and Jamal Murray.
Denver had the lead for most of the game but was outscored 41-26 in the fourth quarter. The Nuggets missed 10 of 32 free throws and were just 3 of 23 from 3-point range.