San Antonio Spurs – Page 13 – Sports Radio Service

Curry, well-rested Warriors outrun dragging Spurs

Published on February 20, 2015 by jhawkes51Leave a comment

By Joe Hawkes-Beamon

OAKLAND — Stephen Curry finished with a game-high 25 points and 11 assists, and fellow Splash Bros. Klay Thompson added 20 points as Golden State picked up right where they left off pre-All-Star Break with a 110-99 victory over the San Antonio Spurs Friday night to improve to 24-2 at Oracle Arena this year and 43-9, both NBA-bests.

Curry’s second quarter technical foul ignited the Warriors, who finished the second quarter on a 21-11 run to take a 62-55 lead at halftime and never looked back.

Golden State avenged their 113-100 home loss to the Spurs back on Nov. 11 with a full team effort, including shooting a blistering 51 percent (17-for-33) from behind the three-point arc.

Harrison Barnes scored 16 points and five rebounds, while Andre Iguodala finished with 14 points including knocking down 4-for-6 from downtown.

“The ball movement was tremendous tonight,” Iguodala said of the Warriors, who outscored San Antonio 23-10 on fast break points.

Draymond Green and David Lee each finished with 11 points. Green finished tied with Iguodala and Andrew Bogut for a team-high six rebounds.

Kawhi Leonard and Aron Baynes each scored a team-high 12 points for San Antonio (34-21), who dropped their second straight road game post-All-Star break. San Antonio lost 119-115 to the Clippers in Los Angeles Thursday night where Leonard shot 1-for-11 from the floor.

Baynes finished with a game-high 11 rebounds.

Boris Diaw had 11 points, while Marco Belinelli had nine points for the Spurs, who shot 60 percent in the first half, but cooled off in the second half finishing with 48 percent from floor.

San Antonio controlled the points in the paints, 44-40, and shot a better free throw percentage than Golden State (15-for-20 75 percent for Spurs to 11-for-18 61 percent for Golden State) but the Spurs couldn’t buy a bucket from three-point range, shooting 6-for-19 (31 percent).

Tony Parker, who was harassed by Curry’s defense the entire night, finished with just two points and six assists.

Tim Duncan scored just eight points after a 30-point effort in Los Angeles.

The Warriors hit the road for a six-game stretch through the Eastern Conference, starting Sunday in Indiana.

Kings fall to Spurs 99-79

Published on March 22, 2014March 22, 2014 by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

Photo credit: NBAE/Getty Images

By Charlie O. Mallonee

The San Antonio Spurs won their 12^th consecutive game on Friday night as they beat the Sacramento Kings 99-79. It was a game that featured ferocious defense, very physical play and at times just plain ugly basketball.

Kings head coach Michael Malone was happy with his teams’ effort in the game. He also had praise for the play of San Antonio. Malone made it known he was happy to be done with the Spurs for the 2013-14 season.

The Kings were led by Isaiah Thomas’ 18 points. DeMarcus Cousins recorded a double-double with 15 points and 13 rebounds. Rudy Gay scored 14 points while playing through a stomach virus. Travis Outlaw had a strong night scoring 13 for the Kings.

The Kings big three – Cousins, Gay and Thomas – scored just 47 total points on a night when they needed to score 65-70 points combined to win the game. The Spurs played really tough defense against the Kings on Friday.

The Spurs had six players in double figures led by Marco Belinelli’s 17 points. Kawhi Leonard put up 15 points. Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili scored 14 points each. Tim Duncan was held to just 10 points.

The Kings came out slow in the first quarter and the Spurs quickly doubled up the score 16-8. The Sacramento shooting improved and the Kings closed the scoring gap in short order. The Kings shot 47.8-percent for the quarter while the Spurs shot just 36.4-percent from the field. Cousins put up eight points while Thomas added six to go with five points from Ben McLemore and Rudy Gay’s four. The Spurs were led by Kawhi Leonard and Tiago Splitter with seven points each.

The Kings managed to put up just 14 points in the second quarter as their shooting fell off to 28.6-percent. The second unit led by Ray McCallum was unable to put together a run. Things went from bad to worse as Ben McLemore picked up two personals in under 30-seconds and had to go to the bench with four fouls. While the Kings could not score, the Spurs kept the ball moving and took any shot that became available. San Antonio scored 23 points in the period by keeping the ball moving and going to the basket. The Spurs scored 18 points in the paint to just two points in the paint for the Kings. The Spurs were just 1 for 13 from beyond the 3-point line in the first half. At halftime, the Spurs led the Kings 47-37.

The Kings came out in the third quarter with burst of energy and quickly cut the Spurs lead to just five points. Rudy Gay looked like his was going to take charge of the game despite being under the weather. The rally was short lived as the Spurs scored five quick points and increased the lead back to 10 points. Tim Duncan picked up a technical foul for protesting the calls of the referees in the midst of some very physical play. Kings Coach Michael Malone also was assessed a technical for protesting the calls of the officials. The Kings committed six personal fouls and turned the ball over seven times. At the end of three quarters San Antonio led Sacramento 69-57.

The Spurs started off the fourth quarter with two quick baskets which forced the Kings to call an early timeout. San Antonio started hitting their outside shots and began to take full control of the game. Sacramento had several defensive breakdowns that allowed the Spurs to score easy baskets. The Spurs were paced by guard Marco Belinelli who scored 13 points in the final quarter. Rudy Gay was able to play just three minutes due to illness. San Antonio scored 30 points in the fourth while Sacramento put up just 22 points. The Spurs won the game 99-79.

The Kings will go from playing the best to playing the worst in NBA as the Milwaukee Bucks come to Sacramento on Sunday afternoon. Sacramento will need to guard against letting down against a team they should beat.

Kings fall in San Antonio 95-93

Published on February 1, 2014February 1, 2014 by Charlie O. MalloneeLeave a comment

Photo credit: D. Clarke Evans

By Charlie O. Mallonee

Rudy Gay missed a baseline jump shot with seconds left to play in the game and the Kings lost to the Spurs 95-93 on Saturday night in San Antonio.

Both teams came into the contest looking to stop losing streaks that had been caused by injuries to key players. The Spurs had lost three in a row while the Kings were 0-6 since DeMarcus Cousins went down with a sprained ankle.

The Kings had played well enough to win in four of those six games, but lack of defense came back to haunt Sacramento as potential wins turned into losses. On Saturday night, the defense showed up but the offense came up lacking for the Kings.

The Kings held the Spurs to just 52 points in the first half. Then, Sacramento allowed San Antonio to score just 19 points in the third quarter and only 24 points in the final quarter. The Kings allowed only 95 points to a team that averages 104 points per game.

The big problem for the Kings was the Spurs defense. San Antonio allowed the Kings to score just 93 points which is minus 8.9 points below their season average of 101.9 per game. The Kings were able to score just 15 points in the fourth quarter.

The most glaring stat of the game can be found in bench points. The Kings bench managed to score just 25 points while the Spurs’ reserves poured in 48 points coming off the bench.

Isaiah Thomas led all scorers in the game with 26 points and five assists. Rudy Gay posted 23 points, seven rebounds and six assists for the game. Gay and Thomas both had outstanding games.

The Spurs were led by Tim Duncan with 23 points, 17 rebounds and five assists. Tony Parker returned to the San Antonio lineup and hit for 18 points and 10 assists. Second unit players Patty Mills scored 15 points while Boris Diaw added 14.

The loss dropped the Kings record to 15 wins and 32 losses. San Antonio improved to 34-13 on the season.

DeMarcus Cousins did dress for the game but did not play. The Kings are 0-7 without Cousins in the lineup.

The Kings flew home after the game and will begin a short two game home-stand. The Chicago Bulls will come to call on the Kings on Monday night followed by the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday.

Turnovers doom Warriors, fall to Spurs 104-102

Published on December 19, 2013 by gabeschapiroLeave a comment

By Gabe Schapiro

The Golden State Warriors (14-13) fell just short against the savvy San Antonio Spurs (21-5), 104-102, Thursday night, at Oracle Arena. San Antonio was without their big-three of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker, and Manu Ginobli, but still made it work. Golden State got some strong performances, but as a unit played poorly, and ultimately couldn’t overcome their own mistakes. On the night they turned it over a whopping 24 points, which the Spurs converted for 31 points. A familiar face, former Warrior Marco Belinelli, led San Antonio with 28 points off the bench.

The night didn’t start off so poorly. After the first quarter the Warriors held a 23-18 lead. They weren’t playing great, but they were getting it done. From there, however, the miscues started to snowball.

San Antonio came back with a great second quarter, at one point going on a 19-4 run to steal back the lead. They had grabbed the momentum and rode it through to the end of the game. Heading into halftime they had comeback to take a two-point lead.

The Spurs extended their lead to eight-points heading into the final frame. The Warriors started scratching their way back into the game, and it looked like they were setting up for another classic late-game comeback. With 28 seconds remaining Stephen Curry sunk a huge three-pointer to tie the game up at 102-102. San Antonio ended the comeback hopes with a sloppy but successful last possession, which ended with a Tiago Splitter rebound and put-back to take the two-point lead. The 104-102 score would stick, as a Curry 32-foot heave with less than two seconds left was no where close to hitting.

Curry would finish with his 12^th consecutive 20+ point effort, contributing a double-double with 30 points and 15 assists. On a more negative note he also did have five turnovers.

David Lee was great on the offensive end, posting a game-high 32 points and 13 rebounds.

Andrew Bogut was very strong down low. He scored eight points, hauled in 18 rebounds, and blocked three shots.

For the Spurs Kawhi Leonard finished with a double-double, 20 points and 11 rebounds. Patty Mills also had a strong game, with 21 points, five rebounds, and three steals.