Aldridge, Spurs rally late to beat Kings 105-104 in OT
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - Enduring a dismal start to the season allowed the Spurs to see the beauty in an ugly victory.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 19 points and 13 rebounds in his return from an injury and San Antonio rallied from nine points down in the final 1:50 of regulation before beating the Sacramento Kings 105-104 in overtime on Friday night.
The Kings missed four shots on their final possession of overtime, including a pair of 3-point attempts by Trevor Ariza.
"It's definitely dramatic, but a win is a win," Spurs guard DeMar DeRozan said. "I think it's the best way for us to understand how we need to close out game, what mistakes cause us to be in a hole where we have to fight back so hard. For the most part, as long as we get the win, that's all that matters."
San Antonio (9-14) has won three of four after losing 12 of 14.
Buddy Hield had 23 points and Harrison Barnes added 19 for Sacramento, which has lost three straight.
It was the Spurs' second straight overtime game. San Antonio beat Houston 135-133 in two overtimes on Tuesday.
"This is two really hard-fought wins," Spurs forward Rudy Gay said. "We dug ourselves out of holes, we got it together. These are games we were losing a couple of games ago. We're just figuring a way to get these wins now."
Dejounte Murray's 16-foot jumper with 29 seconds was the go-ahead shot. Sacramento had taken a one-point lead 19 seconds earlier on Hield's 16-footer.
Murray finished with 14 points, DeRozan had 15 and Patty Mills and Jakob Poeltl had 13 points apiece.
Aldridge was 8 for 18 from the field in his return from a two-game absence due to a sore right thigh. He had 10 points in the fourth quarter as the Spurs rallied to win their third straight at home.
The Spurs forced overtime by outscoring the Kings 11-2 in the final 1:50 of the fourth quarter. After Barnes hit a pair of free throws with 14.3 seconds left, Marco Belinelli drained a leaning 3-pointer with 4.1 seconds remaining to tie it at 100.
"I didn't lock in and pay extra attention on Belinelli," Hield said. "It's on me."
DeRozan drove the lane and kicked the ball out to Belinelli, who came off a screen from Aldridge to break free from Hield.
"They executed the play really well and (Belinelli) came off wide open and he knocked it down," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "He loves those situations. He always has for his whole career, so we went to him and he came through."
The teams combined for 32 turnovers and each squandered a double-digit lead in a sloppy game between teams that are each five games below .500.
The Kings scored nine straight points after the Spurs tied the game at 89 with 3:44 remaining on DeRozan's third 3-pointer. Cory Joseph capped the run with a 3-pointer with 1:50 remaining.
Mills had consecutive steals against Joseph that cut the Kings' lead to 98-95 with 1:13 left.
"It was a tough one for us because we felt like we had it," Joseph said. "We made, including myself, a couple of bonehead mistakes at the end."
After holding Sacramento to a season low for points by an opponent in any half in building a 52-42 lead, San Antonio set a season low with 17 in the third quarter to give away the lead.
TIP-INS
Kings: Joseph, who played for the Spurs from 2011-15, made his 12th start at point guard for Sacramento. Joseph had seven points and an assist in 38 minutes. . Guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, who was questionable with a bruised right knee, had nine points in 21 minutes.
Spurs: DeRozan had three 3-pointers in a game for the first time since April 4, 2018, when he was with Toronto. His career high is six with the Raptors. . Poeltl had three blocks, extending his streak to nine straight games with a block. It's second only to his streak of 13 straight games with a block in 2018.
TIME OFF
After playing 19 games since Nov. 1, Popovich was grateful the Spurs have five days off before playing again.
"We are going to give them another couple of days off like we did before this game," Popovich said. "Because those 34 days, playing every other day, was really tough on them. This is a good break so we can practice on Monday and Tuesday and get some good work in and go from there."
UP NEXT
Kings: At Dallas on Sunday night.
Spurs: Host Cleveland on Thursday night.
