Just out of reach
San Antonio barely keeps its record on road perfect
It went down to the wire before the San Antonio Spurs escaped with a 97-96 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday, keeping their unbeaten streak on the road intact.
The calm-as-you-like Spurs rallied from a 15point second-half deficit behind Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge. It was Aldridge scoring on a goaltending call against Giannis Antetokoumpo that gave San Antonio the goahead basket with 21.2 seconds left.
Milwaukee had a chance to win, but Mirza Teletovic’s corner threepointer rimmed out and the Bucks (10-9) had their four-game winning streak snapped. San Antonio is off to 12-0 start on the road, equaling the 1969-’70 New York Knicks for the second-longest road winning streak at the start of a season. The record is 14 set by the Golden State Warriors last season.
The Bucks had their chances to knock out the Spurs less than a week after beating Cleveland at home.
“They put in the zone and that kind of slowed us down a bit,” Bucks coach Jason Kidd said. “We had a lot of good looks from behind the arc, open shots that we didn’t knock down.
“We got into a little freethrow game where we were in the bonus in that third (quarter). But the other side of that, we weren’t getting stops so they made up ground. But it came down to a possession or two, being able to rebound there late in the game or being able to make a shot.”
Leonard scored 21 points to lead the Spurs
(17-4), including 16 in the final quarter. Aldridge added 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists. Forward Dewayne Dedmon had 10 points and six rebounds off the bench.
Jabari Parker led the Bucks with 23 points and added eight rebounds in 35 minutes. Antetokounmpo had 22 points and 11 rebounds but missed about 7 minutes in the fourth quarter after drawing his fifth foul. Teletovic had 11 points and Greg Monroe 10.
“We knew they were going to come back,” Teletovic said. “But we could play better.”
Antetokounmpo was stymied on the Bucks’ last possession but found Matthew Dellavedova, who passed to Teletovic in the corner.
“Right away when I released it, I kind of released it wrong,” Teletovic said. “I had a wide-open shot and set myself the right way. I looked at the rim and everything, released it. Some of them you make; some of them you miss.
“It was a little bit off. But when you feel a little bit off, some of them go in, too.”
Unfortunately for the Bucks, not this one. They squandered a solid effort that limited the Spurs to 43% shooting from the field, including just 28.6% from three-point range (8 of 28). Milwaukee shot only 41.1% (30 of 73) and 25% from beyond the arc (6 of 24).
The Bucks led, 48-35, at halftime after limiting the Spurs to nine points in the second quarter.
San Antonio got a spark from its bench with Dedmon leading a third-quarter rally that cut the Spurs’ deficit to 73-71. The Spurs outscored the Bucks, 36-25 in the quarter and Dedmon had seven points.
Antetokounmpo picked up his fifth foul with 8:41 left in the fourth quarter and had to go to the bench with Bucks leading by two. He returned with 1:28 remaining and the Bucks up three. But a Parker turnover led to two free throws by Leonard, and Antetokounmpo traveled on the Bucks’ next possession. That set up Aldridge’s winning play.
“It was frustrating; I wanted to be in the game,” Antetokounmpo said. “I thought being out of the game, I hurt my teammates.”
Leonard started to assert himself earlier in the final quarter and gave the Spurs an 84-80 lead, making three straight baskets.
Back-to-back threes by Parker and Dellavedova gave the Bucks a onepoint lead before Monroe scored on a no-look pocket pass from Parker to make it 90-87 with 4:43 left and force a Spurs timeout.
San Antonio again took a one-point lead but Parker hit a jumper and scored on a drive to put the Bucks ahead, 96-93.
Spurs point guard Tony Parker suffered a knee injury in the third quarter and did not return to the game.