SAN ANTONIO — LaMarcus Aldridge scored 26 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and the San Antonio defense held Golden State to a season-low offensive output as the Spurs made a statement with an 87-79 victory over the Warriors Saturday to remain unbeaten at home.
The game featured the best combined record among opponents this late in the season in league history.
San Antonio held Golden State scoreless over the final 2:33 while expanding a three-point lead to eight at the final horn. The Warriors missed their last seven shots.
The Spurs (59-10) have opened the season a perfect 35-0 at the AT&T Center and have also won a franchise-best 44 straight regular-season games at home since a loss to Cleveland in March of last season.
San Antonio’s streak is tied for the second-longest in NBA history, tying Chicago’s 44-game regular-season home run of 1995-96 and trailing only the continuing streak by Golden State (50 games). It’s second all-time in NBA history for the longest home winning streaks to start a season (37, set by the Bulls in 1995-96).
Kawhi Leonard added 18 points and 14 rebounds for the Spurs while Boris Diaw scored 14 points and Danny Green hit for 10. The Spurs, who have won six straight games, are 21-3 since losing to the Warriors in Oakland on Jan. 25.
Golden State (62-7), which had its seven-game win streak snapped, was led by Klay Thompson’s 15 points while Stephen Curry had 14 points on 4-of-18 shooting (1 of 12 on 3-pointers). Draymond Green added 11 points for the Warriors and Brandon Rush had 10.
It was Golden State’s 33 consecutive regular-season loss in San Antonio, a skid that started Feb. 14, 1997 when Spurs’ 39-year-old Tim Duncan was a rookie.
The Warriors’ previous low for points this season was 89 against Cleveland on Christmas night.
Heat 122, Cavaliers 101: LeBron James has yet to win at AmericanAirlines Arena since leaving Miami and that trend continued Saturday night as the Miami Heat got 24 points from Dwyane Wade and defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers 122-101.
Wade reached a significant milestone in a game the Heat never trailed. Midway through the third quarter, he became the 41st NBA player with 20,000 career points.
Thunder 115, Pacers 111: Kevin Durant had 33 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists, including three free throws during the final 2.8 seconds, and the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Indiana Pacers 115-111.
The Pacers got 45 points from Paul George — his highest-scoring game in Bankers Life Fieldhouse — but the forward missed a potential game-tying 3-pointer with seven seconds to play and the Thunder closed it out at the free throw line.
Nuggets 101, Hornets 93: D.J. Augustin came off the bench to score 24 points, including 12 straight in the fourth quarter, and the Denver Nuggets pulled out an improbable 101-93 victory over the Charlotte Hornets.
Augustin, a former Charlotte Bobcats player, was 8 of 11 from the field with three 3-pointers on a night when the Nuggets led by as many as 22 in the second half.
Wizards 99, Knicks 89: John Wall had 24 points and 10 assists as the surging Washington Wizards rallied with a dominant third quarter for a 99-89 win over the New York Knicks.
Markieff Morris scored 17 points and Marcin Gortat had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the playoff hopefuls in their largest comeback of the season.
Hawks 109, Rockets 97: Reserve guards Tim Hardaway Jr. and Dennis Schroder combined for 34 points and sparked a fourth-quarter rally to lead the Atlanta Hawks to a 109-97 win over the Houston Rockets.
Bulls 92, Jazz 85: Derrick Rose scored 22 points and Nikola Mirotic and Taj Gibson each had 15 as the Chicago Bulls beat the Utah Jazz 92-85. — Agencies
