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San Antonio Spurs guard Patrick Mills has the ball stolen by Minnesota Timberwolves guard Jose Barea during the second half at AT&T Center on Sunday. (Agencies)
After a three-day layoff, the well-rested San Antonio Spurs were back at work on Sunday, but needed a half before taking care of business.
Kawhi Leonard scored 13 of his 17 points in the decisive second half, Tim Duncan added 15, and the Spurs beat the visiting Minnesota Timberwolves 104-86 for their fourth straight win.
“The team, in general, was great. We gave up 49 or 50 points in the first half and figured some stuff out in the second half,” said Duncan, whose club outscored their guests 52-37 after intermission.
“We did a much better job of keeping them off the offensive glass, we had a great third and fourth quarter defensively, we were able to get a lead and just kept it.”
Frenchman Tony Parker had 14 points with 10 assists, while reserve Matt Bonner went 4-of-4 from behind the arc en route to season-high 14, as well, for the West-best Spurs (29-8), who shot a sizzling 56.8 (42-74)% from the field and dished out 31 assists.
“It’s an unselfish team,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, “and when we play like that a lot of that comes from being in fast break mode because we are making stops and getting it up the floor, moving it.”
The Spurs led 52-49 at halftime despite playing again without Argentine spark-plug Manu Ginobili (left hamstring tightness) and Brazilian centre Tiago Splitter (right shoulder sprain) and losing Danny Green to a sprained left index finger in the second quarter.
Leonard, however, took over with nine points in the third period when the Spurs stretched their lead to 81-71. He added two more baskets and Bonner nailed a pair of 3-pointers, as the lead swelled to 18 in the final frame en route to the runaway win.
Montenegro’s Nikola Pekovic netted 22 but Kevin Love, who went off for 42 in the first meeting, struggled to score 14 on 3-14 shooting for the T-Wolves, (18-19) who were held nearly 22 points below their season average on a frosty 35.5% field goal shooting.
Elsewhere, Sacramento Kings 124, Cleveland Cavaliers 80: Isaiah Thomas fired in 26 points, Rudy Gay added 20, and the Kings won their third in a row, after handing the visiting Cavaliers their most-lopsided loss since 2008.
DeMarcus Cousins added 16 points and 11 rebounds as the Kings outscored their guest 65-30 in the second half for their third largest margin of victory in franchise history.
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