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The first two quarters went smoothly for the Spurs as their crisp passing and hot shooting staked them to an 11-2 start that ballooned to 21-6 as Marco Belinelli caught fire. In the first quarter, the Pelicans' starters only scored 4 points. Without Anthony Davis, they were severely lacking in firepower, and the score at the end of the first quarter was 28-15. Kawhi got hit in the eye and briefly left the game, but he was OK after a trip to the locker room.
The second quarter wasn't quite as dominant for the Spurs. Luke Babbitt showed that he has some game and hit some key shots to keep the Spurs from stretching the lead too far. There was a spate of Spurs turnovers with about 5 minutes left in the quarter, but after a quick Pop timeout, Manu returned and showed off his crafty moves that reminded Spurs fans why we love him so much. The anxiety in the arena was palpable as he rose high for a dunk, but it turned into a sigh of relief as he came back down with no sign of damage, and ran back on defense with no sign of a limp. The Spurs went into the locker room at halftime with a 52-35 lead.
The third quarter was relatively uneventful. The Spurs started strongly as Duncan dunked on Stiemsma and drew a foul on him in the process. The Spurs maintained a good level of play throughout the quarter, but cold shooting by the Spurs and gritty play from Brian Roberts and the young Pelicans team kept them in the game. Even without Anthony Davis, this is a dangerous team and they did not give up. They cut the lead to 11 points, at the end of the quarter, the score was 70-59.
In the fourth, Belinelli and Mills found their shooting touch and Jeff Ayres contributed some solid minutes. The Spurs defense buckled down and the Pelicans had two 24 second violations. Unlike the Denver game, there was no drama down the stretch and the Spurs closed out the game for a solid win.
Your Spurs are 57-16 on the season and have now won 17 games in a row. Next up is a game at the Pacers on Monday. If they win that game, they'll set a new Spurs record for consecutive regular season wins and will be undefeated for the month of March.