Spurs fuel playoff drive, beat the Heat

MIAMI – Kawhi Leonard scored 22 points, Tony Parker added 16 in his 1,000th NBA game, and the San Antonio Spurs added more steam to their playoff push by beating the Miami Heat, 95-81, on Tuesday night.

Tim Duncan had 12 points and 11 rebounds for San Antonio, which went 12-3 in March – the league’s second-best record during the month behind only Golden State. Boris Diaw scored 11 points.

Goran Dragic had 19 points and Dwyane Wade added 15 for Miami. Hassan Whiteside and Mario Chalmers each had 10 points, and Chris Andersen grabbed 10 rebounds.

San Antonio stayed No. 6 in the West, and could clinch a playoff berth Wednesday in Orlando.

The Heat remained in the No. 7 spot in the Eastern Conference race but now are two losses behind No. 6 Milwaukee (which also owns the tiebreaker over Miami if necessary) and only a half-game up on Brooklyn, which climbed into the No. 8 spot with a 111-106 win over Indiana earlier Tuesday.

In other results, Detroit defeated Atlanta, 105-95, while the Golden State Warriors continued to post victories, beating the Los Angeles Clippers, 110-106.

It was still a game at the half, with Miami down just 47-42. But the Spurs pulled away after the break, going up by as many as 15 in the third and then stretching it out to 21 in the fourth.

Miami closed to 85-75 on a putback by Andersen with 3:32 left, but Parker hit a floater from the right baseline on the ensuing San Antonio possession and the rally try was quickly snuffed out.

San Antonio is now two wins away from its 16th consecutive 50-win season, with eight games remaining. The last time the Spurs didn’t win 50 was 1998-99, when they had a good excuse – that was only a 50-game season.

Miami started cold but scored 12 points in the final 4:16 of the opening quarter to take a 20-19 lead going into the second, the first time the Spurs trailed after the first period in seven games.

The Heat used only nine players, with their roster still depleted by illness and injury and forcing Miami into a team-record-tying 30th starting lineup of the season. Whiteside returned after missing three games with a hand laceration and, wearing a brace of sorts to protect the still-healing wound, shot 5 for 7.