Leonard powers Spurs to record 64th victory
Heat clinch spot
SAN ANTONIO, April 3, (AP): Kawhi Leonard had a career-high 33 points, LaMarcus Aldrige had 31 points and 15 rebounds as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Toronto Raptors 102-95 Saturday night for their franchise-record 64th victory.
San Antonio never trailed and topped its 63-win season in 2005-06. The Spurs also extended their NBArecord home winning streak to start the season to 39 games.
Toronto sat Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan for rest.
The Spurs closed it out at the freethrow line, capturing their 48th straight home victory dating to March 2015.
Patrick Patterson’s intense effort helped the Raptors outscore the Spurs 52-36 in the paint. Norman Powell had 17 points, Jonas Valanciunas and Cory Joseph added 16 points and Patterson had 12 points for the Raptors.
Trail Blazers 110, Heat 93 In Portland, Oregon, C.J. McCollum had 24 points and made all six of his 3-point attempts to help the Portland Trail Blazers beat the Miami Heat for their seventh straight home win.
Despite the loss, the Heat still clinched a playoff spot after the Chicago Bulls fell 94-90 to Detroit earlier in the evening. Miami came into the game tied for the third seed in the East but dropped to sixth with the loss.
The Blazers made 10 3-pointers to break a franchise record for 3-pointers in a season with 808. They are in sixth place in the Western Conference and have not clinched a playoff spot yet.
Damian Lillard did not play in the fourth quarter and finished with 18 points for the Blazers. Gerald Henderson came off the bench to score 17 points.
Hassan Whiteside led the Heat with 21 points and 13 assists. Guard Dwyane Wade missed his second straight game
Miami Heat forward Luol Deng (9) and Portland Trail Blazers center Mason Plumlee (24) go after a rebound during the second half of an NBA basketball game in
Portland, Ore, on April 2. (AP)
because of back and neck injuries sustained during Wednesday’s game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Pistons 94, Bulls 90 In Chicago, Reggie Jackson scored 22 points and Tobias Harris added 21 as Detroit overcame Jimmy Butler’s first career triple-double to beat Chicago.
Marcus Morris had 16 points and Andre Drummond had 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Pistons, who remain on track for a playoff spot. and seven assists for Indiana, the eighth seed in the NBA’s Eastern Conference. Rodney Stuckey scored 17 points.
Isaiah Canaan had 24 points for Philadelphia (9-68), which needs one victory in its remaining five games to avoid matching the 1972-73 Sixers for the worst fullseason record in NBA history.
Jerami Grant had 20 points and nine rebounds for Philadelphia, which has lost 13 straight and 25 of 26. Carl Landry scored 19 points.
Kings 115, Nuggets 106 In Denver, Rudy Gay had 25 points and nine rebounds and Seth Curry scored 17 points to help Sacramento beat Denver to sweep the three-game season series.
Darren Collison had 14 points and eight assists and Willie Cauley-Stein and Ben McLemore scored 14 points each for Sacramento, which played without DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo.
The Kings left Cousins and Rondo their two best players in Sacramento for the one-game trip. Cousins averaged 38 points, 14.5 rebounds and three blocks in two wins over the Nuggets this season.
Gary Harris led Denver with 19 points and Emmanuel Mudiay and Joffrey Lauvergne had 15 apiece.