With eye on new-look playoffs, Spurs finish strong at the top.

To cap their season, the Spurs were met with four mini-wars against the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers. In the first game, the Spurs downed the Warriors, 108-99, ending the game on a 13-4 scoring punch. Golden State led by 7 after one, but the Spurs won the 2nd Quarter, 35-20. Giannis Antetokounmpo had 28 points & 20 rebounds, but Steph Curry shot 4-12 from 3PT range (22 points). For the Spurs, KCP had 18 points, hitting 4 threes. Dejounte Murray had 17 points, as did VanVleet. Andre Drummond commanded 17 rebounds, scored 16 points, and swatted The Greek Freak at the rim in a highlight chase-down sequence. Ingram & Fournier combined for 27 points in the win.

The next time around, the stat sheet would deceive you because Brandon Ingram had 29 points, shot almost 50%, but was hounded all game long by Giannis, who is up for Defensive Player of the Year honors this season and showed everyone why, saddening the home crowd as the Spurs failed to pull out the win. Antetokounmpo had 31 points, 17 rebounds with 2 blocks on a night where Steph Curry only scored 13 points. Kevin Knox, II, had 17 points. The Warriors came on strong in the 2nd Quarter, 28-16, then kept scorching the Spurs, 29-24 in the 3rd. San Antonio shot just 38%, losing 94-102 at home. Andre Drummond had 25 rebounds, with VanVleet scoring 19 on five threes.

For the Lakers, San Antonio came out determined to get revenge after a bitter loss last time around. Fred VanVleet scored 17 points in the 1st Quarter alone, bombing four 3PT shots on LeBron & co. The Lakers went cold after the 1st Quarter, en route to a 105-91 home loss as San Antonio never let up. Brandon Ingram scored 16 points. Luka Samanic looked good for 14 points. Andre Drummond had 20 rebounds, and Alex Caruso got the best of Derrick Rose, scoring 8 points with 3 assists (2 steals on Rose). In the loss, James had 23 points & 12 assists. Anthony Davis had 19 points, 10 rebounds. Both Holiday & Rose shot 3-14 from the field.

In the season finale, the other four Spurs players on the court mauled Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who made a buzzer-beating 3PT winner, to countless flash bulbs in front of the AT&T Center crowd, downing the Lakers who'd made a fiery comeback. It was his only 3PTer made in the game, tallying 13 points with 3 defensive steals. The point spread in all four quarters epitomized this bitter rivalry: 21-21, 27-25 (LA), 20-23 (SA) & 26-26 for a 94-95 victory to end the season. The Spurs finished 70-12, overall, after a game that saw LeBron & AD strong-arm their way into the lead. But it was Andre Drummond (22 rebounds, 8 points, 4 blocks) that dunked it home after Fred VanVleet's shot fell short. LeBron James (23 points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) would seemingly put the nail in the coffin with 4.4s left, hitting the go-ahead jumper in the clutch. But 1.2s was all the time KCP needed to become a hero!

The Rest: Anthony Davis won player of the game honors, scoring 32 points & 8 rebounds with 3 blocks. Steven Adams had 19 rebounds. A blight on the night was an 0-5 stroke by J.J. Redick, and the Lakers definitely needed more from the Duke sniper, totaling only 3 made 3PT shots as a team.

The Spurs were led by Brandon Ingram's 27 points & 12 rebounds (4 steals). Fred VanVleet had 16 points, hitting four threes including one in the final minutes that kept the Spurs in the mix. Dejounte Murray had 15 points, coming back into the game after the Lakers took a 10-PT lead (57-47), stole the inbound pass and jammed the ball home. Murray had 4 steals. The Spurs, despite KCP's stellar dagger, got lucky, as Evan Fournier had a rough time shooting the ball, going 2-11 & 0-7 from 3PT range.