Spurs 112, Heat 88
SAN ANTONIO -- Kawhi Leonard scored 32 points before being forced from the game with a quad injury, and the San Antonio Spurs rolled past the Miami Heat 112-88 Wednesday night to remain unbeaten at home.
Leonard left the floor midway through the third quarter and headed to the San Antonio locker room with a towel over his face. He did not return, but he was not needed as the Spurs ran off an 18-4 in the first five minutes after he left and built their lead from 16 to 29 points during that stretch.
Team officials announced Leonard sustained a right quad contusion.
The Spurs (60-11) improved to 36-0 at the AT&T Center, and they have also won a franchise-best 45 consecutive regular-season games at home since a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers in March 2015.
San Antonio's home streak is the second longest in NBA history, trailing only the continuing streak by Golden State (50 games entering Wednesday's contest against the Los Angeles Clippers). The 36-0 home start is second best in NBA history behind the Chicago Bulls' 37-0 stretch to open 1995-96.
Reserves Boban Marjanovic and Kevin Martin added 19 and 12 points, respectively, for the Spurs, who have not lost back-to-back games this season. Thirteen players saw the floor for San Antonio, and 12 of them scored, with reserve guard Andre Miller the lone scoreless participant.
Miami (41-30) was led by reserve Josh Richardson's 17 points. Dwyane Wade scored 16 points, and reserve Hassan Whiteside added 12 points and 14 rebounds. Gerald Green scored 13 points for Miami, and Justise Winslow hit for 10 points for the Southeast Division-leading Heat, who had a two-game win streak snapped.
Leonard showed he was ready to produce a big night when he had eight of the Spurs' first 12 points as they built a 12-4 lead five minutes into the game. Miami whittled away at the advantage, with five straight points for Josh McRoberts and a strong end-of-quarter contribution by Whiteside (six points and four rebounds in just four minutes of action) bringing the Heat to within 26-21 at the end of the period.
A 9-2 run by Miami punctuated by a running dunk by Richardson handed the Heat its first lead of the game, 30-28, three minutes into the second quarter. But as has been the norm this season for the Spurs at home, they responded with a 15-4 run fueled by their bench, with five points in that surge from Patty Mills and another five from Martin.
San Antonio led 56-47 at halftime as Leonard scored 24 points in 18 minutes of court time, three points more than his per-game average.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich earned his eighth technical foul of the season with 2:43 left in the second quarter when arguing a possession call with referee Gary Zielinski.
The third quarter belonged to the Spurs and their defense, which turned up the intensity and held Miami to 16 points while building an 88-63 lead. The Heat shot 7-for-17 in the quarter while San Antonio hit 12 of its 20 shots and owned as much as 29-point advantage. Danny Green had all nine of his points for the Spurs in the third quarter.
NOTES: The Spurs posted a 119-101 victory against the Heat at American Airlines Arena on Feb. 9. ... Heat G Goran Dragic was originally drafted by San Antonio in the second round (45th overall) in the 2008 NBA Draft. ... Miami reserve C Hassan Whiteside scored 24 points on 10-of-11 shooting and pulled down 14 rebounds Tuesday in the Heat's 113-99 win over New Orleans. Whiteside leads the NBA in blocked shots (3.8 per game), and he owned a 75.7 field-goal percentage while averaging 18.8 points and 11.0 rebounds over the previous four games before Wednesday. ...The Spurs sputtered in the second half Monday in a 91-88 loss at Charlotte. San Antonio shot 37 percent while scoring just 37 points over the final two quarters to squander an early 23-point lead, their largest in a loss during the 19-year Tim Duncan era.