MINNEAPOLIS (AP) San Antonio stretched its perfect record in road games to 13 straight wins as Kawhi Leonard scored 31 points to lead the Spurs to a 105-91 victory at Minnesota on Tuesday.The Spurs are a moderate 5-4 at home but have been unbeatable away and opened a 3-1/2 game lead atop the NBA’s Southwest Division.
Elsewhere, Detroit beat Boston in a meeting of Central Division rivals who are now in a virtual tie after opposing form streaks, while Utah made it seven wins in eight games by defeating Phoenix.
San Antonio’s Leonard hit 11 of 15 shots after not scoring at all in the first quarter and Patty Mills scored 15 points off the bench for the Spurs, who played without Tony Parker due to a bruised knee.
San Antonio overcame a slow start to shoot 52.7 percent and now have the second longest road winning streak to start a season, one behind Golden State, which began with 14 in a row last season.
Zach LaVine scored 25 points for the Timberwolves.
Detroit’s Tobias Harris headed an even team effort with 22 points as the Pistons beat Chicago 102-91.
Andre Drummond added 15 points and 10 rebounds for the Pistons, who won for the fourth time in five games while the Bulls have lost three straight.
Jimmy Butler scored 32 points for Chicago, which was playing a fourth game in five nights and looked weary in the fourth quarter.
Utah dominated early but ultimately just hung on to beat Phoenix 112-105, led by 28 points from Gordon Hayward.
Hayward had 11 third-quarter points to reach 20-plus points for the ninth consecutive game; the first Jazz player to do that in nine seasons.
Rudy Gobert scored a career-high 22 points and had 11 rebounds for the Jazz, who sprinted out to a 25-10 lead and were up 65-45 at half time before the Suns worked their way back into the contest.
Devin Booker scored 21 points for Phoenix.
New York’s Carmelo Anthony matched a season high with 35 points as the Knicks won 114-103 at injury-ravaged Miami for a fourth straight victory.
Memphis scored the last seven points of the game to escape with a 96-91 win against Philadelphia, which has lost eight straight.
Orlando overcame 52 points from Washington’s John Wall to beat the Wizards 124-116.
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