National Basketball Association
San Antonio 110, Toronto 82
When: 8:30 PM ET, Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Where: AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas
Officials:
#3 Nick Buchert, #55 Bill Kennedy, #64 Justin VanDuyne
Attendance:
18418
By The Sports Xchange
SAN ANTONIO -- Night in and night out, teams beaten by the San Antonio Spurs say the same thing in postgame interviews: "The Spurs just did what they do."
Because of that consistency, it's up to San Antonio's opponents to rise to the occasion - and when they don't, they usually get steamrolled.
Such was the case on Tuesday as Kawhi Leonard scored 25 points and LaMarcus Aldridge added 23 as the Spurs roared to a big lead in the opening quarter and ran away with a 110-82 victory over the Toronto Raptors at the AT&T Center.
Leonard, who had 21 points in the first half, and Aldridge, who made 11 of his 16 shots from the floor, only played the first three quarters as the Spurs (28-7) held a 30-point lead heading into the final quarter.
San Antonio, which lost to Atlanta in overtime on Sunday, is 6-1 this season in its games after a loss.
Tony Parker added 15 points and eight assists for the Spurs while also sitting out the final quarter. All 13 players who took the floor for San Antonio in the game scored as the Spurs outshot Toronto 55.1 to 37.3 percent and had 32 assists to only eight for the Raptors.
Those 32 assists led to 43 made baskets for San Antonio, which is nearly unbeatable when it moves around the ball like it did on Tuesday. The Spurs also had a season-high in blocked shots with 15.
"Any team is dangerous when you move the ball like that," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "It's hard to guard when the ball changes sides. You are able to play with open people and shots are more uncontested - and it just multiplies."
Aldridge even had six assists in the game.
"I'm just trying to play in the flow of the game and getting guys the ball if they were open," Aldridge said. "They were trying to collapse on us post guys so I was just trying to make good use of it. It's all about picking your spots out there and trying to read when a guy in the corner comes to help and making that pass."
Toronto's DeMar DeRozan led all scorers with 26 points (also in three quarters) while Terrance Ross poured in 17. Cory Joseph added 11 points and DeMarre Carroll hit for 10 for the Raptors (23-11), who were playing the final contest of a season-high 13-day, six-game road trip.
"We all get tough spots in our schedule and it showed a little bit (for Toronto)," Popovich said. "I'm sure they had more energy at the beginning of the road trip than they do now. We did take advantage of that, but we played very well - we played with a lot of desire and a lot of fiber tonight."
The Spurs jumped all over Toronto in the early minutes, forging a 29-12 lead that was capped by a Leonard 3-pointer that rolled out of the hoop, straight up and back down through the net at the 3:43 mark. San Antonio continued to push the ball into the paint but missed shots on four straight possessions.
On the other end, DeRozan hit his final two shots, including a jumper with 0.1 of a second remaining in the period to pull the Raptors to within 29-18 after the opening quarter.
"There's no explanation - that was a championship performance by a championship-caliber team," Toronto coach Dwane Casey said of the Spurs' effort. "We didn't come out and put our foot down early on and play in a desperation mode like we needed to. Against a team like San Antonio we needed to play with a sense of urgency, of force, and you have to take care of business."
Toronto did what could to get back in the game during the second quarter but were undone by a combination of defense by the Spurs and its own turnovers. Leonard scored eight consecutive points for San Antonio on a breakaway dunk after a steal by Danny Green, a 3-pointer from the corner after a steal and fast-break assist by Parker and, after another Toronto turnover, a 3-pointer from the outside elbow to garner the Spurs a 54-32 lead.
San Antonio settled for a 60-41 advantage at the half as Leonard poured in 21 points on 8-of-11 shooting (including 5 of 6 from 3-point range) and Aldridge added 17 points.
DeRozen led the Raptors with 16 points in the first half while backcourt mate Lowry scored only four in the first 24 minutes.
Whatever fight the Raptors' first-unit players had left in them withered away in the first half of the third quarter. Toronto got to within 14 points on DeRozan's floating jump shot at the 9:16 mark before San Antonio turned up the heat, outscoring the Raptors 26-10 over the remainder of the quarter to run away to an 88-58 advantage heading to the final period.
"You don't go up against a team like the Spurs very often when they are playing as well as they did tonight," DeRozen said. "Being at the end of long road trip is no excuse for us - they took advantage of every opportunity that we gave them and got us good. Usually we try to make that comeback, but they kept their foot on the gas."
NOTES: The Spurs set a franchise record for lowest field-goal percentage when they shot 23.9 percent against Toronto on Feb, 7, 2002, in a game that the Raptors won 80-74 in overtime. ... Raptors G Cory Joseph was originally drafted by the Spurs in the first round (29th overall) in the 2011 NBA Draft. He spent four seasons (2011-15) with San Antonio, averaging 5.2 points and 1.8 rebounds in 204 games. ... Raptors G DeMar DeRozan scored 30 or more points in a team-high 16 games this season. His career high for games with 30 or more points in a season is 17 (2013-14). ... In 2016, the Spurs claimed the best calendar year record in franchise history by going 66-15. The year for the San Antonio also ranked eighth-best all-time in NBA history.
Top Game Performances
Toronto |
|
San Antonio |
DeMar DeRozan 26 |
Scoring |
Kawhi Leonard 25 |
Cory Joseph 3 |
Assists |
Tony Parker 8 |
Jakob Poeltl 9 |
Rebounds |
LaMarcus Aldridge 7 |
Cory Joseph 4 |
Free Throws Made |
Kawhi Leonard 4 |
DeMarre Carroll 2 |
Steals |
Kawhi Leonard 2 |
Lucas Nogueira 3 |
Blocks |
Pau Gasol 4 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Toronto
|
82 |
37.3 |
4-18 |
16-22 |
8 |
43 |
4 |
8 |
14 |
San Antonio
|
110 |
55.1 |
13-24 |
11-15 |
32 |
43 |
15 |
7 |
15 |
Upcoming Games
-
San Antonio will play their next game on the road against Denver. The Spurs have a W/L % of .786 after a win and .857 after a loss.
-
Toronto will play their next game at home against Utah. The Raptors have a W/L % of .652 after a win and .727 after a loss.