The San Antonio Spurs won their 65th game of the season Tuesday night, thanks to Kawhi Leonard’s late-game heroics.
Leonard’s baseline jumper in Gordon Hayward’s grill with 4.9 second remaining secured an 89-86 road win against the Utah Jazz.
Tim Duncan also joined the ultra-exclusive 1000-win club.
Timmy joins Kareem & Robert Parish as only players in the @NBA 1,000 wins club. pic.twitter.com/9ns3vOFimE
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) April 6, 2016
Timmy is also the first @NBA player to win 1,000 games with a single team. pic.twitter.com/YgRZ1xJsGY
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) April 6, 2016
Per the AP:
Rodney Hood missed the potential winning 3-pointer at the buzzer as Utah fell a half-game behind Dallas for seventh place in the Western Conference. The Jazz remained in the No. 8 slot and a half-game ahead of the Houston Rockets.
“They played with a lot of energy,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “They were very aggressive and I thought they moved the ball much better. […] We were very lucky to win. They actually played better basketball then we did.”
Duncan became the third player with 1,000 victories in the regular season, following Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Robert Parish. Duncan is the career leader in victories with one team. […] “They are fighting for a playoff seed, so we knew it was going to be a tough game,” Leonard said. “I made a couple of defensive mistakes (in the fourth quarter) and things that we don’t do and they were able to cut the lead down to 10 after making back-to-back 3s. Then after that, they just got rolling.”
