Rudy Gay was the story early on for the Spurs, despite the team's weak defense to begin the contest, scoring 16 points of the team's 30 in the opening quarter, finishing with 24 points and 7 rebounds. Iman Shumpert had some dazzling plays, however, including a fabulous block on DeMarr DeRozan (23 points, 7 assists, 5 turnovers) that ended up getting Shumpert to the line. He only had 8 points, but 2 steals and a stepback 3PTer over the Toronto star that all-but sealed the game for the Spurs.
Bryn Forbes, sharpshooter prospect, made 3 shots from range. Patty Mills recuperated with 12 points and 8 assists, exhibiting control during his current shooting slump, going 50% from deep tonight. Kawhi Leonard looked tired after his career night in Atlanta, but he still made some big 3PTers (seemingly refurbishing his dead eye), making 7 of 13 attempts for 23 points on 7-14 shooting overall. Pau Gasol had a mini-war with Jonas Valanciunas (20 points, 16 rebounds, 8-12 FG%), falling a bit short with 19 points and 9 rebounds on 7-10 shooting. Anderson Varejao helped weather the big man storm, blocking Valanciunas late.
The game looked to be out of reach in the 3rd quarter early, but the Spurs notorious spark went off and got them into the game, rocking the Raptors into survival mode. They did not, however, despite CJ Miles scoring 33 points on 5-10 shooting from deep, leading Toronto. Kyle Lowry's poor shooting night, despite 14 assists, did not help the survival effort. Serge Ibaka had 18 points and 10 rebounds, but nearly fouled out of the game, tallying 4 fouls in just the first half.
Just about every Spur gave a respectable effort in scoring tonight, the bench besting Toronto 36-18. Young had 7 points, as did Lauvergne, Lamb and Parker (with 5 assists).