Kawhi Leonard returns to spark Spurs to win over Blazers
San Antonio Spurs forwards Kawhi Leonard, left, and Tim Duncan, right, defend against Portland Trail Blazers center Chris Kaman in the second half of an NBA basketball game Friday, Jan. 16, 2015, in San Antonio. The Spurs won 110-96 (AP Photo/Bahram Mark Sobhani)
SAN ANTONIO — Reigning playoff MVP Kawhi Leonard made the most of his return to the San Antonio lineup, scoring a team high 20 points as the Spurs beat Portland 110-96 on Friday.
Leonard showed no signs of rust against the Trail Blazers despite missing 15 games because of a torn ligament in his right hand. His last game was on December 15.
“I felt good tonight,” said Leonard, who was named MVP of the 2014 NBA finals. “It was fun out there, especially with us getting the win.
“It took me a while to get my legs under me and get some of the excitement out.
“Hopefully I can carry it on.”
Leonard said after the game that the hand felt fine and that’s good news for the defending NBA champion Spurs who went 7-8 with him sidelined.
“Right now it feels good. Came out great. We will see how it feels tomorrow,” he said.
Danny Green tallied 19 points and Patty Mills came off the bench to score 18 points for San Antonio, which has won four of its last five contests.
“He’s going to play aggressive and create stuff for us,” Spurs guard Tony Parker said of Leonard.
LaMarcus Aldridge paced the Portland attack with 24 points and eight rebounds while Damian Lillard finished with 23 points and five assists in the loss.
“We didn’t do a good job keeping them off the boards,” said Aldridge. “We didn’t do a good job of finding bodies. We’ll learn from it.”
Mills scored 10 points off the bench in the first quarter to help the Spurs grab a 35-28 lead after the opening quarter.
San Antonio led by as many as a dozen points in the second quarter before taking a 60-52 lead at halftime.
Then it took over in the third and cruised to the win in the fourth.
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