National Basketball Association
San Antonio 119, Phoenix 98
When: 8:30 PM ET, Wednesday, December 28, 2016
Where: AT&T Center, San Antonio, Texas
Officials: #35 Steven Anderson, #19 James Capers, #38 Michael Smith
Attendance: 18418

SAN ANTONIO -- LaMarcus Aldridge's recent streak of aggressive play on the offensive end has paid huge dividends for the San Antonio Spurs, and his last two games have been more than impressive -- they've been off the charts.

Aldridge poured in 27 points and Tony Parker tied a season high with 20 as the Spurs rolled past the Phoenix Suns 119-98 on Wednesday at the AT&T Center, winning for the third straight game and eighth time in their past 10 outings.

Aldridge hit 10 of his 12 shots from the floor on Wednesday, following up a 15-for-20 shooting, 33-point performance on Sunday in a victory against Chicago.

The Spurs (26-6) won despite the absence of leading scorer and two-time defending NBA Defender of the Year Kawhi Leonard, who was scratched due to illness just before the game. It was the first game Leonard missed this season.

"When LaMarcus plays aggressive like that we are a better team -- he's in attack mode, and he's looking for his teammates and tonight Phoenix couldn't guard him," Parker said. "We did a lot better in the second half. Our energy was better and we tried to create turnovers and play more physical on the defensive end."

Pau Gasol added 16 points and 10 rebounds for San Antonio and Manu Ginobili and David Lee scored 12 points apiece of the bench and Danny Green hit for 11 points.

The Suns (9-23) were led by reserve guard TJ Warren's 23 points. Phoenix also got 14 points from Brandon Knight, 13 each from Eric Bledsoe and Marquese Chriss and 10 from Dragan Bender.

The Suns' bench players outscored the starters 58-40. Phoenix had 22 turnovers, the most for a San Antonio opponent this year.

Phoenix shot 68.8 percent from the floor in the first quarter but still trailed the Spurs 30-27 after 12 minutes of play. The Suns made all three of their 3-point shots -- San Antonio was 0 for 2 from beyond the arc -- but their nine turnovers led to 13 points for the Spurs. Phoenix's final turnover of the quarter came on a steal by Ginobili that led to a putback layup by Jonathan Simmons that just beat the horn to end the period.

The Suns forged a 9-2 run in the middle of the second quarter to take a 49-42 lead, with the majority of the damage done by their second unit as Bender had five points and Warren had two baskets in the surge. The Phoenix advantage grew to 10 points, at 62-52, at the 1:39 mark on an alley-oop dunk by Chriss off a running assist by Devin Booker and the Suns settled for a 64-58 lead at intermission.

Warren led Phoenix with 12 points off the bench in the first half while Bledsoe and Knight had 11 and 10 points, respectively. Aldridge paced the Spurs with 17 points and Parker and Gasol poured in 12 points each in the first 24 minutes for San Antonio.

"We played a great first half -- we played aggressive on the ball and got some deflections on defense," Suns coach Earl Watson said. "Things reversed in the second half. We are a young group trying to establish a culture and that can't be done overnight. We have to be a defensive game all four quarters and keep our focus. Turnovers hurt us, but with a young team, turnovers are going to happen."

The Suns outshot San Antonio 67.6-53.5 percent in the half, outrebounded the Spurs 17-16 and had 13 assists to San Antonio's nine.

San Antonio outscored the Suns 61-34 in the second half.

"(Phoenix) had a great game plan, they really got into us physically and did a great job denying in passing lanes and really gave themselves a chance to win," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "The whole game for us was picking up the intensity in defensive pressure in the third and fourth quarters. We didn't have that kind of kind of focus in the first half and combined with turnovers that kept them in the game."

A 9-4 run to open the third period, capped by a second-chance 3-pointer by Danny Green, allowed the Spurs to regain the lead at 67-66 at the 8:35 mark. Ginobili's grit on defense and opportunistic play on offense keyed a wild back-and-forth, end-to-end surge late in the period that allowed San Antonio an 85-76 advantage but had Popovich pounding the scorer's table to get the Spurs to slow things down and be more structured.

But Phoenix is used to freelancing and gambling on both ends of the floor and remained unfazed by the Spurs' short-lived change of character, cutting the San Antonio lead to 89-82 at the end of the third quarter.

"All the momentum went their way in the second half and we never really retaliated," Chriss said. "The NBA is a game of runs, and we need to use our defense to turn into offense and score points. We are making strides in communication and working on our focus on every defensive possession."

NOTES: The Spurs now have a nine-game winning streak over Phoenix dating back to Halloween 2014. San Antonio beat the Suns 107-92 in Phoenix on Dec. 15, as five Spurs players scored in double figures. ... The teams will play for the third time this season on Jan. 14 in Mexico City. ... On Wednesday, the Suns began the sixth of 14 back-to-back sets this season, having gone 1-4 in the first game and 1-4 in the second game in the first five. ... The Suns defeated San Antonio 137-91 in Phoenix on April 15, 1989. The 46-point loss remains the worst in Spurs franchise history.
Top Game Performances
 
Phoenix   San Antonio
TJ Warren 23 Scoring LaMarcus Aldridge 27
Brandon Knight 5 Assists Kyle Anderson 5
Tyson Chandler 8 Rebounds Pau Gasol 10
TJ Warren 10 Free Throws Made LaMarcus Aldridge 7
Leandro Barbosa 2 Steals Danny Green 4
Dragan Bender 1 Blocks Manu Ginobili 3
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Phoenix 98 48.6 7-16 19-24 20 33 4 11 22
San Antonio 119 54.0 5-17 20-25 20 46 7 11 16
Upcoming Games
  • San Antonio will play their next game at home against Portland. The Spurs have a W/L % of .808 after a win and .833 after a loss.
  • Phoenix will play their next game at home against Toronto. The Suns have a W/L % of .100 after a win and .364 after a loss.