NEW YORK • Things are going so well for the San Antonio Spurs in the National Basketball Association that forward LaMarcus Aldridge could joke about rookie centre Boban Marjanovic threatening to take his spot in the starting line-up.
While Aldridge's 25 points and 11 rebounds helped the Spurs match their best start in team history with a 106-79 rout of the Brooklyn Nets on Monday, Marjanovic's 13 points provided another highlight.
"He's playing great," Aldridge said. "His (player efficiency rating) per 48 (minutes) must be really good right now. I think teams are definitely seeing how much of a problem he is down low."
Aldridge and the rest of the Spurs held a 60-49 lead when the Serbian checked in for the first time with 5min 9sec remaining in the third quarter. He helped the Spurs expand the margin to 77-56 with a dunk, two free throws and a nifty finger-roll lay-up, which led to cheers from some fans.
"I feel amazing about it," Marjanovic said. "This is good because if people love you, you're good and I feel great."
Those performances helped the Spurs improve to 33-6, equalling the team's best 39-game start, a mark set by the class of 2010-11.
They also posted a league-leading 14th win by at least 20 points.
In contrast, the Nets (10-28) dropped their 10th consecutive home game, the franchise's longest such skid since the 2009-10 season.
A day after firing coach Lionel Hollins and reassigning general manager Billy King, the Nets were not much better.
REUTERS
