By ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN ANTONIO (AP) — De’Aaron Fox had 25 points and the San Antonio Spurs kept rolling even with Victor Wembanyama and Stephon Castle sidelined by injuries, defeating the Portland Trail Blazers, 112-101, on Wednesday night, April 8.
San Antonio (61-19) is 28-3 since Feb. 1 and has its best record since 2017, its last appearance in the Western Conference finals during a 22-year postseason run that included five NBA championships.
Deni Avdija scored 27 points and Scoot Henderson added 20 for the Trail Blazers, who have lost two straight after a three-game winning streak.
Portland (40-40) remains ninth in the West, just 2 1/2 games ahead of Golden State (37-42) heading into the final weekend of the regular season.
San Antonio had six players in double figures to offset the absence of the NBA’s past two Rookie of the Year winners. Keldon Johnson scored 20 points and rookie forward Carter Bryant added a season-high 17.
Wembanyama bruised a rib Monday and Castle is out with right knee soreness. San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson said the Spurs are hopeful both will play in Friday’s home game against Dallas.
Wembanyama needs to play at least 20 minutes in one more game to reach the league-required minimum of 65 games for award eligibility.
The Spurs got off to a sluggish start, missing their first three shots and committing a turnover in the opening two minutes.
Fox got them rolling, scoring 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting in the first 4:13 to stake the Spurs to a 12-8 lead. Fox finished 10 for 20 from the field in leading San Antonio in scoring for the first time since March 1.
San Antonio closed the first quarter on an 8-0 run to set up its first double-digit lead in the opening seconds of the second.
San Antonio closed the third quarter on a 13-2 spurt to expand a four-point lead and roll to its second straight victory.
Meanwhile, Chet Holmgren had 30 points and 14 rebounds, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 20 points and 11 assists, and the Oklahoma City Thunder clinched the NBA’s best regular-season record with a 128-110 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers.
Jalen Williams scored 18 points for the NBA champion Thunder (64-16), who will have homecourt advantage throughout the postseason in their title defense after holding off San Antonio (61-19), which is on an 18-2 run since February. Oklahoma City has won seven straight and 19 of 20 to earn the West’s No. 1 seed for the third straight season.
Kawhi Leonard scored 20 points and Brook Lopez added 16 for the eighth-place Clippers, who had won seven of nine. Los Angeles is 35-18 since shortly before Christmas, but still must win one of its final two games to extend this once-moribund franchise’s streak to 15 consecutive winning seasons.
The Clippers head to Portland on Friday for a crucial game. The winner almost certainly will finish eighth in the Western Conference, while the losers will slip to ninth, where they’ll need two wins in the play-in tournament to make the playoffs.
While Gilgeous-Alexander scored at least 20 points in his record 141st consecutive game despite sitting out the fourth quarter, Leonard scored at least 20 in his 56th straight game. Leonard also remained on track to play in at least 65 games this season — his second-most in seven years with the Clippers, and enough to qualify for All-NBA consideration.
Holmgren scored 24 points in the first half and propelled the Thunder to an early 25-point lead. Oklahoma City hit 58.1% of its shots and thoroughly stifled the Clippers’ offense, allowing no fast-break field goals.
Darius Garland sat out for the Clippers to manage his toe injury. He hasn’t played in back-to-back games since Los Angeles acquired him from Cleveland in a trade for James Harden.
