BOSTON (AFP) – LaMarcus Aldridge tallied 24 points and Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili posted their record 541st win as a threesome as the San Antonio Spurs stopped the Boston Celtics 95-87 on Sunday.
The Spurs star trio had a quiet night on the scoresheet but that didn’t take anything away from the milestone NBA win which fittingly came against the Celtics.
”They’re three wonderful players,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. ”They just care about winning games.”
The Spurs held off the Boston Celtics to give the players the most victories by a threesome in NBA history, breaking their tie with Boston’s Larry Bird, Kevin McHale and Robert Parish.
Centre Duncan scored seven points, grabbed nine rebounds and dished out five assists while guards Ginobili and Parker scored 13 and six points, respectively. Ginobili came off the bench to add eight assists.
In Miami, Hassan Whiteside scored 25 points to lead the Miami Heat to a 109-89 come-from-behind victory over the Houston Rockets.
Guard Dwyane Wade finished with 20 points for the Heat.
Elsewhere, forward Kevin Durant scored 25 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder moved to 3-0 with a 117-93 victory over the Denver Nuggets at the Chesapeake Energy Arena.
In Charlotte, The Atlanta Hawks tightened up their defense, held the Hornets to 4 of 24 shooting in the fourth quarter and escaped with a 94-92 victory Sunday in Charlotte’s home opener.
Toronto 106, Milwaukee 87
Dwane Casey got his franchise-record 157th win as coach of Toronto with a victory over Milwaukee.
The milestone came in his 315th game with the Raptors, besting the previous record held by current Minnesota Timberwolves coach Sam Mitchell.
Chicago 92, Orlando 87
Pau Gasol and Nikola Mirotic each scored 16 points and Chicago withstood a late surge from Orlando.
It was the third win in four games for Chicago. The Magic dropped to 0-3.
Dallas 103, LA Lakers 93
Dirk Nowitzki scored 25 points and the Dallas Mavericks held off a late rally by the winless Los Angeles Lakers for a 103-93 victory on Sunday night.