Spurs blast Nets post-King era

In their first game since the firing of head coach Lionel Hollins and general manager Billy King, the Brooklyn Nets fell to the visiting San Antonio Spurs via a 106-79 blowout on Monday (Tuesday in Australia).

LaMarcus Aldridge led the Spurs with a double-double of 25 points and 11 rebounds while Kawhi Leonard had 17 points and 8 rebounds to give San Antonio an eight-game winning streak.

The Nets were in the game in the first half and trailed by 22-20 after the opening quarter and 45-38 at the halftime break. However, the Spurs owned the third quarter outscoring Brooklyn, 32-18 and opened up the game to a blowout.

As a team, the Spurs shot 53.7 percent from the field and outrebounded the Nets, 40-30.

The Spurs cruised in the fourth quarter as their bench players contributed to the easy victory. Big man Boban Marjanović had 13 points in just 13 minutes, Boris Diaw had 11 points and veterans Manu Ginóbili and David West combined for 17 points.

The losing side was led by veterans Brook Lopez and Joe Johnson who had 18 and 16 points, respectively. However, all others struggled from the field as Thaddeus Young, Donald Sloan and Wayne Ellington combined to shoot just 8-of-22 from the field.

The Spurs have not lost a game since their Christmas Day defeat to the Houston Rockets. San Antonio plays four of their next six games on the road including match-ups against teams with winning records, Detroit Pistons and Dallas Mavericks and a highly-anticipated match-up against league-best and Western Conference rivals, Golden State Warriors.

The Nets dropped to 10-28 for the season, third-worst record in the entire league and are currently on a five-game losing skid. Brooklyn hosts rivals New York Knicks and the Portland Trail Blazers in their next two games.