Injured Spurs destroy Bulls
CHICAGO—The San Antonio Spurs took to the court without three of their top scorers to face Chicago on Monday but still had too much firepower for the Bulls, pulling out a 103-89 victory to pick up their 13th win in 14 games.
Tony Parker (knee), Tim Duncan (knee) and Manu Ginobili (hamstring) all sat out for San Antonio, who own the best record in the NBAat 41-12, but a career-best 26 points from Kawhi Leonard and 18 from Danny Green kept the Spurs machine rolling.
“All of us are basketball players here, we’re competitive,” Leonard told reporters of the Spurs, who were also without Stephen Jackson for personal reasons.
“That’s why we play the game. If we go in doubting ourselves, we’re already beat.”
San Antonio clung to a 76-75 lead in the fourth quarter before a 19-5 run closed the door on Chicago.
“One would hope you could play with anybody in our system, but it was a tough challenge tonight,” said San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich. “I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
In Charlotte, North Carolina, the Charlotte Bobcats ended Boston’s seven-game winning streak as Byron Mullens logged 25 points and 18 rebounds in a 94-91 win over the Celtics.
Kevin Garnett had 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Celtics, but missed a key 18foot shot that would have given Boston the lead late in the game.
Minnesota’s Luke Ridnour scored 21 points and Ricky Rubio added 13 and 10 assists as the Timberwolves downed the Cleveland Cavaliers, 100-92, to end an eight-game losing streak on the road.
Chris Paul scored 21 points and made 11 assists, and Blake Griffin scored 20 points at Philadelphia as the Los Angeles Clippers cruised past the 76ers, 107-90.
At Indianapolis, Brook Lopez scored 25 points as the Brooklyn Nets opened overtime with a 9-3 run to pull away and down the Indiana Pacers, 89-84.
NewOrleans won for the third time in eight games as Ryan Anderson scored 31 points, and Robin Lopez had 23 points and 10 rebounds in the Hornets’ 105-86 victory over the Detroit Pistons.
In other games, Washington ripped Milwaukee, 102-90 while Atlanta turned back Dallas, 105-101.