Reserves lead Spurs' comeback win over Kings
SAN ANTONIO -- Manu Ginobili scored a season-high 19 points and David Lee equaled his season-best scoring output with 18 points as the shorthanded San Antonio Spurs roared from behind to beat the Sacramento Kings 114-104 on Wednesday at the AT&T Center for their ninth straight victory.
The victory assured the Spurs (50-13) their 18th consecutive 50-win season. San Antonio has now won 50 or more games every season since 1997-98 except in the strike-shortened 1998-99 campaign, when they went 37-13. The Spurs have had just one losing season (20-62 in 1996-97) in 28 years.
The Spurs rested star forwards Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge and trailed by as many as 28 points in the second quarter before their depth took over.
San Antonio never led until a Patty Mills 3-pointer with 6:26 to play gave them a 95-92 advantage. Another Mills 3-pointer and free throw almost three minutes later expanded the Spurs' cushion to 99-94 and the Kings had no answer in the final minutes.
Danny Green, who missed eight of his first 10 field goal attempts, canned back-to-back-to-back 3-pointers in the last 2:20 to help San Antonio secure the win.
Mills added 17 points for San Antonio, which beat Sacramento for the ninth straight time. Jonathan Simmons and Green scored 14 points each and Lee took 10 rebounds for the Spurs.
Tyreke Evans led the Kings (25-39) with 26 points while Skal Labissiere hit for 15, Kosta Koufos scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and Buddy Hield tallied 11 for Sacramento, which has lost six straight games.
San Antonio was ragged early on, especially the defensive end, as the Kings rolled to a 35-15 lead after one quarter. Sacramento played nearly a perfect 12 minutes, outshooting the Spurs 60 percent to 26.1 percent and outrebounding San Antonio 17-9 as Evans had 13 points in the period and Koufos added 11.
Sacramento expanded the lead to as many as 28 points in the first half of the second quarter but the Spurs finally came alive, forging a 14-2 run over the final four minutes to pull to within 63-48 at intermission. Kyle Anderson paced San Antonio by scoring seven of his nine first-half points in the quarter as the Spurs hit 12 of their 19 shots in the period.
The Spurs cut the Sacramento lead to 74-64 on a basket by Lee at the 6:33 mark of the third quarter and had five straight possessions to crawl even closer but missed shots on four of those and committed a turnover on the fifth. But even with San Antonio misfiring, the Kings were helpless to keep the Spurs from coming back as two free throws by Pau Gasol with 37 seconds remaining in the period tied the game at 82.
Sacramento got baskets from Ty Lawson and Labissiere in the final 28 seconds to allow the Kings an 86-82 lead at the end of the quarter.
Lee scored six consecutive points for San Antonio over in the first two minutes to pull the Spurs even again at 88 and the game went back and forth until San Antonio finally took charge.
NOTES: The Kings have used 18 different starting lineups in 2016-17 after sending 34 different fives to the floor in 2015-16 and 21 different in 2014-15. ... The Spurs are 7-1 against the four other teams with 40-plus wins in the NBA this season (Golden State, Houston, Cleveland, Boston). ... Former San Antonio F Tim Duncan recorded four 20 point-20 rebound games against Sacramento, more than any other opponent. ... Spurs assistant coach Ime Udoka played for the Kings in the 2009-10 season, appearing in 20 games. ... Next up for the Spurs is Thursday's road showdown with Oklahoma City while the Kings return to Sacramento to face the Washington Wizards on Friday.