Kawhi Leonard scored a game-high 34 points as San Antonio Spurs defeated Houston Rockets 121-96 on Wednesday to level their NBA playoff series at one game each.
Leonard also delivered eight assists and seven rebounds for Spurs, who now travel to Houston for games three and four of the best-of-seven second round Western Conference series.
Tony Parker injured
San Antonio’s win could prove to be costly because of an injury to guard Tony Parker.
The Frenchman had to be carried off by teammates with 8:43 remaining after suffering a left leg injury.
San Antonio led 97-83 at the time of Parker’s injury. The incident took place when Parker missed a short layup and landed underneath the Rockets’ basket. He had scored 18 points before leaving the game.
LaMarcus Aldridge scored 15 points for the Spurs while Jonathon Simmons added 14 and Danny Green scored his 12 points all in the first half.
Meanwhile, LeBron James reached another milestone and Cleveland Cavaliers nailed 18 shots from beyond the arc en route to a 125-103 rout of Toronto Raptors in their East playoff series.
Surpassing Jabbar
James, who turned in a 39 point performance, nailed a three pointer in the second half to surpass Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (5,762 points) for second place. Michael Jordan is first with 5,987 playoff points.
“You find somebody to stop LeBron in these moments, I'll give you $100,” Toronto's DeMar DeRozan said.
The win gives Cleveland a 2-0 series lead but game three is in Toronto on Friday.
James also joined Ray Allen, Reggie Miller and Manu Ginobili to become the fourth player in league history to make 300 playoff three-pointers in a career.
And he now has 89 playoff games with at least 30 points, which moved him past Kobe Bryant. Only Jordan (109) has more.
The results: Eastern Conference: Cleveland 125 bt Toronto 103. Western Conference: San Antonio 121 bt Houston 96.
