LaMarcus Aldridge confirmed that he has found his best moment of play and assumed the status of San Antonio Spurs' leader in the absence of forward Kawhi Leonard and led them to a 101-97 win over the Toronto Raptors.
Aldridge had 20 points with eight rebounds and three assists that left him ahead of the Spurs' 3-0 perfect strike and share the Southwest Division's lead with the Memphis Grizzlies (3-0), who defeated 90-98 home to the Houston Rockets.
Again, the absences of Leonard and the injured French midfielder Tony Parker did not prevent the Spurs from demonstrating their great class as a resourceful team and a balanced squad, in which new acquisitions of forward Rudy Gay and Pivot French Joffrey Laugverne, as reserves, were decisive when combined with a contribution of 20 goals and 12 rebounds. While veteran Argentine guard Manu Ginobili also stood out from the bench and scored nine points in the 21-minute AT & T Center San Antonio. Ginobili scored 4 of 8 field shots, including a triple of two attempts, and did not go to the line of staff, also captured two rebounds, gave an assist, recovered a ball and lost two.
The Spanish Center Pau Gasol continued to start and did not have his best scorer inspiration, but again the lack of points compensated with a good team work in other facets of the game.
The Toronto team took advantage of the poor control of the ball by the Spurs and that allowed them to stay in the game, even though they were outscored in the indoor game with 56 rebounds that captured the Spurs by only 33 who had them. Defender DeMar DeRozan with 28 points and four assists was the Raptors' attack leader, who also had the support of Spanish Congolese power forward Serge Ibaka and reserve forward CJ Miles who contributed 13 points each.
Ibaka, who starred in a push exchange with Aldridge, played 25 minutes as a starter and scored 5 of 10 field shots, including 2 of 6 from the lineup and 1-2 from the lineup, as well as capturing four rebounds , which also did not prevent the first loss suffered by the Raptors so far this season. Brazilian forward Lucas Nogueira came out with the Raptors to score four points (1-4, 0-2, 2-2), five defensive rebounds and two turnovers in the 19 minutes he played.
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