SAN ANTONIO -- In the process of running down 50 victories for the 18th consecutive season, the Spurs first needed to fight through a 28-point deficit Wednesday to best the Sacramento Kings.
The comeback in the 114-104 win was the largest of coach Gregg Popovich's tenure in San Antonio, not to mention the most significant rally of this NBA season. Just two days prior, the Spurs overcame a 16-point deficit to defeat the Houston Rockets.
It also extended the NBA record for consecutive 50-win seasons to six more than the previous mark of the Showtime-era Los Angeles Lakers' 12.
San Antonio accomplished this latest milestone without the help of top scorers Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge, who were held out of action to rest.
"It was a team effort," Popovich said. "We had 33 assists. I thought David Lee was fantastic. I thought Manu [Ginobili] was fantastic. Patty [Mills] joined them, and I thought everybody else chipped in and did what they had to do with the 33 assists and getting up into them physically, defensively, after the first quarter. They took some pride in it. They wanted to win the game. I thought the whole team effort was fantastic. Patty, Manu and David were pretty special tonight."
Sacramento stormed ahead 59-31 with 4:41 remaining in the first half on a 24-foot jumper from Buddy Hield on an assist from Ty Lawson. At the end of the opening quarter, two players -- Tyreke Evans and Kosta Koufos -- had outscored San Antonio's entire roster 23-15.
In what was the 170th matchup between these teams, Sacramento rolled out to a 22-point lead in the first quarter.
"That was a really bad start by us," said Lee, who contributed 18 points, 10 rebounds and a pair of blocks. "They have some guys that, if they get going, can hit some shots. Tyreke, Buddy and a couple of those guys hit a bunch of those shots in the first half. Meanwhile, we had really good open looks and couldn't buy one from 3. And they had a bunch of points in transition in the first half, which is what hurt us.
"Once we started getting back on defense and making them score in the half court, I think we turned up the pressure a little bit. I think the key was Manu had a really good second quarter and at least got us within striking distance by halftime. Then the rest, we were able to take care of."
Sacramento destroyed San Antonio down low in the opening quarter, outscoring the home team 22-10 in the paint. In the first half, the Kings also outscored the Spurs 18-7 on the break.
But a spirited second quarter from Ginobili sparked the beginning of San Antonio's rally. Ginobili would finish with a team-high 19 points.
San Antonio, which faces the Thunder on Thursday at Oklahoma City's Chesapeake Energy Arena, outscored Sacramento 83-45 over the final 28 minutes, 42 seconds, as Mills (17 points on 6-of-6 shooting during the span), Ginobili (17 points on 6-of-11), Danny Green (nine points on 3-of-6 from 3-point range) and Lee (16 points on 7-of-7 shooting) contributed 59 of those points to outproduce the entire Kings squad over that span.
Popovich remained calm when the Spurs fell behind but showed plenty of emotion when Mills walked off the court with 21.6 seconds left and the Spurs ahead 113-104.
"I think it had to do with his own physical state," Green said of Popovich, who coached the game sporting a bandage across the bridge of his nose and another on one ear. "It was hard for him to get crazy, even though he did at times. You [could] see him on the sidelines cussing and yelling [at] Patty and a couple of other guys, [Jonathon Simmons] and me. He was just telling us, 'You have to play better defense. You've got to stay in front of guys.' Offensively, we've got to move the ball. We were getting some good shots. But we just took our time. We weren't going to hit a home run all at once. We've got to chip away little by little."
San Antonio certainly did that and in the process captured its ninth consecutive victory, currently the NBA's longest winning streak.
"I knew it was a big deficit. I didn't know it was 28," Mills said. "There was a moment there in the first half where there was no life, and we tried to find some sort of energy. This was a real character test I thought at halftime. We could have just laid down and gotten ready for a big one tomorrow night [at Oklahoma City]. We crawled back in it, and now I think it just goes to show the character that we have within the group, coming together and making sure we don't get embarrassed in our own building like that. In terms of camaraderie and how well we've come together off the court this season, I thought it was a good example of that in the second half."
