Spurs beat Cavs to extend home run

With the victory, the Spurs (35-6) extended their overall winning streak to 10 games and have now won 23 consecutive home games to start the season and 32 straight dating back to last season, just 12 shy of the record set by the Michael Jordan-led Chicago Bulls between March 1995 and April 1996.

Tony Parker led all scores with 24 points, while Kawhi Leonard added 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists in the win.

“We just played better defense”, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said when asked about what changed defensively between the first and second halves.

The two teams are scheduled to meet again at Cleveland this January 31, Philippine time.

Cleveland Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson (13) dunks as San Antonio Spurs forwards David West (30) and Boris Diaw watch during the first half of an NBA basketball game Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016, in San Antonio. Leonard is playing tremendous defense like always, but his offense has also been great as he is scoring 20.2 points per game and making a whopping 48 percent of his threes. “We were not guarding the pick-and-roll very aggressively so we are lucky that that happened in the first quarter”. Barring injuries or any unforeseen circumstances, this has Golden State vs. San Antonio for the Western Conference title written all over it.

Tony Parker had 24 points and San Antonio used a furious start to the fourth quarter to beat Cleveland on Thursday night, remaining undefeated at home and avenging their previous loss in their own arena. Howard is putting up 14.2 points and 11.9 rebounds per game – surprisingly the second-highest scorer on the team.

Cleveland, who had their eight-game win streak snapped, had all five of their starters score in double figures.

With their defensive intensity turned up a few notches, the Spurs outscored the Cavs 24-18 in the second quarter and held them to 42.1-percent shooting. “We have to be a little bit more determined to play throughout the game with flow and pace”.

Westbrook scored 12 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists for his fourth triple-double of the season.

Parker nailed 11 of 18 shots and finished with more steals (3) than assists (2).

Once San Antonio made the adjustment by having a big hedge out toward the player with the ball, while the help defense was ready to help in case of a drive, the Cavaliers either began to turn the ball over more frequently, or they were forced into contested outside shots.

“We can’t afford to give the ball away or have the amount of turnovers we had against a team that doesn’t make many mistakes, especially at home”, James said.

“One of the best opponents we can play against”.

This will go down as just two of Paul Millsap’s 23 points for the night, but they were two that won’t be forgotten soon.

San Antonio opened the third quarter on a 13-4 run and took its first lead of the game, at 57-50, at the 7:50 mark on a 3-pointer by Leonard, who had seven points in the spurt.

Lowry made two free throws to put Toronto up 105-100 with 43 seconds left in overtime, but Oladipo answered with a 3-pointer.

Popovich praised Parker’s play on both ends of the floor.

Following Thursday’s loss to San Antonio, LeBron James was non-committal on whether he’ll go against Houston in the trip finale on Friday.