Spurs keep winning, Heat lose but clinch playoff spot
San Antonio Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard (2) blocks the shot of Toronto Raptors’ Terrence Ross (31). AP
Kawhi Leonard had a career-high 33 points, while LaMarcus Aldrige had 31 points and 15 rebounds as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Toronto Raptors 102-95 Saturday (Sunday Manila time) for their franchise-record 64th victory.
San Antonio never trailed and topped its 63-win season in 2005-06. The Spurs also extended their NBA-record home winning streak to start a season to 39 games.
The Spurs closed it out at the free-throw line, capturing their 48th straight home victory dating to March 2015.
Norman Powell had 17 points, Jonas Valanciunas and Cory Joseph added 16 points and Patrick Patterson had 12 points for the Raptors.
In Portland, C.J. McCollum had 24 points and made all six of his 3-point attempts to help the Trail Blazers beat Miami 110-93 for their seventh straight home win.
Despite the loss, the Heat still clinched a playoff spot after the Chicago Bulls lost to Detroit earlier in the evening. However, having come into the game tied for the third seed in the East, Miami dropped to sixth with the loss.
The Blazers made 10 3-pointers to break a franchise record for 3-pointers in a season with 808. They are in sixth place in the Western Conference and have not clinched a playoff spot yet.
Damian Lillard did not play in the fourth quarter and finished with 18 points for the Blazers. Gerald Henderson came off the bench to score 17 points.
Hassan Whiteside led the Heat with 21 points and 13 assists.
In Chicago, Reggie Jackson scored 22 points and Tobias Harris added 21 as Detroit overcame Jimmy Butler’s first career triple-double to beat the Bulls 94-90.
Marcus Morris had 16 points and Andre Drummond had 11 points and 11 rebounds for the Pistons, who remain on track for a playoff spot.
Butler had 28 points and career highs of 17 rebounds and 12 assists. Pau Gasol had 16 points and 14 rebounds.
Detroit is a half-game ahead of Indiana for seventh in the Eastern Conference and 2 1/2 games up on ninth-place Chicago.
C.J. Miles scored 25 points, including a go-ahead 3-pointer with 3:39 left as Indiana rallied to beat short-handed Philadelphia, 115-102.
Paul George added 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for Indiana, the eighth seed in the NBA’s Eastern Conference. Rodney Stuckey scored 17 points.
Isaiah Canaan had 24 points for Philadelphia (9-68), which needs one victory in its remaining five games to avoid matching the 1972-73 Sixers for the worst full-season record in NBA history.
Rudy Gay had 25 points and nine rebounds and Seth Curry scored 17 points to help Sacramento beat Denver 115-106 to sweep the three-game season series.
Darren Collison had 14 points and eight assists and Willie Cauley-Stein and Ben McLemore scored 14 points each for Sacramento, which played without DeMarcus Cousins and Rajon Rondo.
Gary Harris led Denver with 19 points and Emmanuel Mudiay and Joffrey Lauvergne had 15 apiece.
