Spurs honor Tim Duncan and beat Pelicans

LaMarcus Aldridge scored 22 points and the San Antonio Spurs paid tribute to Tim Duncan on his jersey retirement night with a fundamentally strong performance Sunday in a 113-100 win over the New Orleans Pelicans in San Antonio.

The Spurs won their fourth in a row overall and fourth straight at home after a slow start at the AT&T Center.

The team retired Duncan’s jersey after the game. The franchise cornerstone retired in the off-season after winning five championships and two most-valuable-player awards in 19 seasons, all with San Antonio.

Duncan’s style of play led to the nickname “The Big Fundamental,” and the Spurs honored him with their own rather seamless effort against the Pelicans.

Utah 82, at Memphis 73: Gordon Hayward scored 22 points and Rudy Gobert had 21 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks, helping the Jazz win a defensive battle for their fourth straight victory and seventh in eight games. Utah broke open a close game with about four minutes left on the strength of three-pointers by Boris Diaw, Hayward and Shelvin Mack. Mike Conley had 14 points for the Grizzlies, who shot just 30% and missed 21 of 23 three-point attempts.

at Philadelphia 108, Brooklyn 107: Joel Embiid scored 17 of his career-high 33 points in the third quarter and hit a pair of free throws with 12.5 seconds left to lift the 76ers in a matchup of the two worst teams in the Eastern Conference. Ersan Ilyasova had 22 points to help the 76ers snap an eight-game home losing streak and win for the third time in 13 games. The Nets have lost their last nine road games.

Toronto 109, at Orlando 79: DeMar DeRozan scored 31 points and Jonas Valanciunas had 16 points and 13 rebounds for the Raptors, who topped 100 points for the 14th straight game, longest active streak in the NBA. DeRozan has scored at least 30 in his last four games, and 15 times this season.

Boston 105, at Miami 95: Isaiah Thomas scored 23 points before getting ejected, and Al Horford had 17 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Celtics, who built a big early lead en route to beating the Heat for the fifth straight time.

at Dallas 99, Sacramento 79: Rookie Dorian Finney-Smith had a season-high 17 points, and five teammates scored in double figures as the Mavericks avenged a 31-point home loss to the Kings 11 days earlier.

at Washington 117, Clippers 110