MIAMI, FL, Sporting Alert – The San Antonio Spurs are off to a 4-0 start again after their 117-100 victory over the Miami Heat on Wednesday night.
LaMarcus Aldridge, who recently signed a three year 72.3 million dollar contract extension, maintained his streaky start to the season by scoring 31 points on 12 of 20 shooting to go with seven rebounds and two steals across 38 minutes.
Rudy Gay jumped off the bench to pour in 22 points on 6 of 8 shooting for San Antonio (4-0) to stay unbeaten after four games for the second successive season.
Danny Green had 15 points and seven rebounds, Manu Ginobili added 14 points, Pau Gasol finished with 13 points and nine rebounds and Kyle Anderson ended with 12 points and 10 rebounds in the win that took Greg Popovich’s career tally to No. 1,154 victories.
The veteran coach now moves one win shy of matching Phil Jackson for sixth-most in NBA history.
The Spurs were playing without starting point guard Tony Parker and leading forward Kawhi Leonard.
Tyler Johnson scored 23 points to pace Miami off the bench.
James Johnson added 21 points, nine rebounds and four assists, Goran Dragic finished with 20 points and Dion Waiters chipped in with 17 points and five assists for the Heat (2-2).
Tyler Johnson of the Miami Heat looks on
Rookie Bam Adebayo, who started for the injured Hassan Whiteside, who missed his third consecutive game with a bruised knee, finished with eight rebounds, four points and a block in 20 minutes.
Josh Richardson struggled on the night for the Heat and went 1 for 8 — missed all four of his 3-point attempts — in 33 minutes before fouling out.
Miami was losing to the San Antonio Spurs after four games for the second season in a row.
As a team, the Spurs went 42 of 76 from the floor for 55.3 percent on shooting, while making 10 of their 17 shots from 3-point attempts.
Miami, meanwhile, which pulled within one point, at 61-60 midway through the third quarter before San Antonio pulled away, shot 46.3 percent.
The Heat, however, were only 9 of 26 from long-range.
“We really didn’t get a handle on our defense for basically the entire game,” Heat coach Erik Spoelstra said.
“That’s a big credit to what they do and how they execute, how they have purpose and intention to every single possession.”
Despite the win Spurs coach Popovich was still not satisfied.
“I thought it was mediocre,” he said. “There were way too many mistakes. … Our offense got us through.”
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