SAN ANTONIO -- Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge provided their largest combined scoring output (64 points) of the season in San Antonio's 102-95 victory Saturday over the Toronto Raptors, marking the first time since 2012 a Spurs duo scored at least 30 points apiece.
Still, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich expressed slight displeasure in the team's overall performance.
"We didn't play great," he said.
San Antonio accomplished its goal of distributing more minutes to Leonard, Aldridge, Tony Parker and Tim Duncan as the team rounds into postseason form, but the group failed to produce a consistent effort on the court, and the Spurs nearly allowed the Raptors to claw out from a 15-point deficit and steal the game.
Still, San Antonio rolled to its 64th victory, a franchise record for wins in a season, while moving to 39-0 at home.
"It wasn't very consistent tonight," Leonard said. "We had a couple of leads: 10 [points], 11, dropping down to two for us. I think we've just got to keep being consistent and execute our offense. When we have those leads by 10 or 11, really punch the other team in the stomach and blow it up to a 20-point lead or something."
The Spurs took a nine-point advantage into intermission made possible by the team's characteristic constant ball movement. The Spurs knocked down 21 field goals in the opening half on 19 assists, led by Leonard's five assists, and four each from Parker and Manu Ginobili.
Aldridge and Leonard scored 19 points and 13, respectively, in the first half as Aldridge pulled down eight rebounds. Aldridge finished with 31 points, and Leonard chipped in a career-high 33.
"I thought in the first half [we moved the ball well], but [in the] second half, not so much," Popovich said.
That became most evident in the third quarter, during which Leonard and Aldridge combined to produce all of San Antonio's 16 points while Toronto outscored the Spurs by four points to pull to within five headed into the final quarter. The Spurs took leads of at least 10 points on four occasions in the first half before going up 15 points with 9:16 left in the third on a pair of Leonard free throws.
"We got a win. I'll always take that," Aldridge said. "I thought we had moments where we could've been better for sure."
A Norman Powell dunk with 38 seconds left in the third got Toronto to within five points, and the Raptors cut it to three with 10:39 to play in the fourth on a Delon Wright finger roll that made the score 73-70.
Guard Danny Green used the words "up and down" to describe San Antonio's performance.
"We had some moments where we played pretty solid, but a lot of moments where we weren't as crisp as we wanted to be," Green said. "We got a little happy from the perimeter, took a lot of outside shots. Once we got inside, I think that's where we kind of made our money. We've just got to continue to start from the inside out. Some guys played big minutes, some guys didn't. Right now we're figuring out, changing up, and trying different rotations before playoff time. So we'll see how it goes the next couple of games."
Despite the uneven outing, Leonard and Aldridge affected the game tremendously. The 64 points the duo produced eclipsed their previous high of 62 combined on Feb. 3 against the New Orleans Pelicans. The last time two Spurs scored at least 30 points in the same game was Dec. 28, 2012, when Duncan (30) and Parker (31) accomplished the feat against the Houston Rockets.
Putting that further into perspective, the most points the Spurs duo of David Robinson and Duncan produced was 66 on Dec. 26, 2001, against the Dallas Mavericks. Duncan poured in 53 points and Robinson contributed 13.
"He played great, got guys involved, got me a bunch of easy dunks early," Aldridge said of Leonard, who finished Saturday's game with seven assists. "He's seeing the floor very well right now. Then, late in the game, he's taking the big shots and making them for us for sure."
Aldridge has now scored at least 30 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in three of his last four games, after not putting together a single 30-10 contest in his first 66 outings. Aldridge finished with 15 rebounds, and Duncan contributed 11.
Interestingly, Aldridge's last 30-15 game came during his days with the Portland Trail Blazers on Dec. 19, 2014, against the Spurs.
"[Leonard] and L.A. led us tonight, did a great job of being a force for us offensively, especially L.A. inside," Green said. "He said he didn't feel good early on with his jumper, but it came and started clicking, and both those guys made some big plays for us down the stretch."