Spurs hold off Celtics' rally
SAN ANTONIO -- Kawhi Leonard scored 26 points and Pau Gasol added 17 points and pulled down 13 rebounds as the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Boston Celtics 108-101 on Wednesday at the AT&T Center.
The Spurs' Tony Parker had eight points in a two-and-a-half-minute stretch of the fourth quarter to help San Antonio withstand a Celtics' comeback attempt. The Spurs led by 100-85 with 4:31 to play but had to hold on as Boston forged a 10-2 run that cut the San Antonio advantage to 102-95.
But Leonard hit two free throws and a jumper to cement the win for the Spurs.
Parker ended up with 16 points in the game, 10 of them in the fourth quarter, for San Antonio (20-5), while Manu Ginobili added 12 points and Dewayne Dedmon and Patty Mills had 10 each.
Avery Bradley, who played his only year of college basketball 80 miles north in Austin at the University of Texas, enjoyed a homecoming of sorts by leading Boston with 25 points, 16 of which came in the first half, and 10 rebounds.
Jae Crowder had 15 points and Al Horford added 13 points for the Celtics (13-12), which lost for the third straight game and the 11th consecutive time to San Antonio. Terry Rozier poured in 12 points for Boston and Marcus Smart hit for 11.
The Spurs got a lift from their second unit in the final four minutes of the first quarter as San Antonio forged a 10-4 run and grabbed a 32-33 lead. Ginobili had two 3-pointers in the surge to augment Leonard's nine points in the quarter as San Antonio outshot the Celtics 65-50 percent.
Boston answered in the second period by fashioning its own 12-2 run that tied the game at 40 at the 4:39 mark, with five of those points coming from Bradley via a finger-roll layup and a ringing 3-pointer.
The Celtics moved in front at 43-42 on a free throw by Crowder with 3:34 to play in the period but then San Antonio flipped a switch, scoring 14 of the game's next 16 points to assume a 56-45 lead. Rozier's running layup with .01 to play cut the Spurs' lead to nine points at intermission.
Bradley's 16 points led all scorers in the half while Leonard paced San Antonio with 14 points.
The Spurs led by as many as 13 points, at 72-59, with 3:42 to play in the third quarter before Boston unleashed a 14-2 spurt that brought it to within 74-73 at the 1:05 mark. Gasol canned a 3-pointer from the left baseline with 46.9 seconds to play in the period and when Bradley missed a long three at the buzzer, San Antonio took a 77-73 advantage to the fourth quarter.
The Spurs opened the final quarter with a Dedmon dunk off an alley-oop pass from Davis Bertans and a jumper and a layup from Mills to move the lead to 83-73 and create a huge hill for Boston to climb.
NOTES: The Spurs decided late Wednesday afternoon to hold out F LaMarcus Aldridge for rest. David Lee started in Aldridge's stead. ... Aldridge's absence means San Antonio has played only 11 games with their projected starting lineup this season. ... Boston G Isaiah Thomas missed the game because of a strained groin. ... Celtics C Al Horford recorded 26 points and six blocked shots against Sacramento on Dec. 2, making him the first Boston player since Kevin McHale (April 18, 1990) to score at least 25 points and have at least six blocked shots in a game. ... The Celtics held a 20-game winning streak over the Spurs from 1980-90. ... San Antonio holds the Celtics' opponent record for most assists in a game with 49 on Feb. 14, 1979. ... The Spurs' reserves outscored or matched production of the opposing benches in 16 of the first 24 games, going a combined 839-743 against them.