Spurs outsmart Jazz for 10th straight win
SAN ANTONIO — Manu Ginobili and the San Antonio Spurs put together a dominant offensive performance on Sunday night.
The final result was a 10-game winning streak and another year with 50 victories.
Ginobili scored 21 points and Tony Parker had 18, leading the Spurs to a 122104 victory over the Utah Jazz.
San Antonio ( 50- 16) became the first NBA team to reach 50 wins, extending its league record of consecutive seasons with at least that many victories to 15. Not that it means all that much to the veteran Spurs, who are focused on winning another title.
'' I don't really care,'' coach Gregg Popovich said. ''You all have to have things to write about, I guess. It's better than losing 50, I guess. We're thinking about other things and we've just had a great group of guys for a long time. That's reason we've been able to win. Records and that sort of thing, streaks aren't really on anybody's mind.''
The Spurs (50-16) shot a season-high 62.8 percent from the field while improving to 4-0 against the last-place Jazz (22-45) this season.
'' You give them the credit,'' Utah coach Tyrone Corbin said. '' They are a great ballclub. They know who they are. They take the right shots. They had 31 assists, so the ball moved around very well. The guys who came off (the bench), they made tough shots. Our guys competed, they are just better at what they do at this stage. You just have to give them a lot of credit.''
Derrick Favors had a career-high 28 points for the Jazz, who have lost four straight. Gordon Hayward scored 17 and Trey Burke had 13 points.
Parker also had seven assists and Tim Duncan added 16 points and six rebounds for the Spurs. Along with Ginobili, the team's Big Three combined to shoot 22 for 32.
'' We're getting our rhythm,'' Parker said. ''Manu looks good, he looks healthy. Timmy, his outside shot is coming around. We're all doing little stuff. Now we all just to have to stay healthy.''
It's the second doubledigit winning streak of the Spurs, who won 11 in a row in November.
'' We're in a great situation and it's great to win (50 games), but the main goal is to win a championship,'' Parker said.
The Spurs featured their inside game early on, and then went to their sharp outside shooting. Tiago Splitter had 14 points and 10 rebounds, Patty Mills and Marco Belinelli each scored 12 and Kawhi Leonard had 11 points.
San Antonio was shooting 65 percent from the field with 6 minutes left, holding a 108- 90 lead following dunks by Splitter and Belinelli and jumpers from Leonard and
Duncan.