San Antonio wins its 31st in a row at home, beating Chicago, 109-101

Kawhi Leonard had 29 points, LaMarcus Aldridge had 26 points and 10 rebounds and the San Antonio Spurs won their 31st straight at home to open the season by upending the short-handed Chicago Bulls, 109-101, on Thursday night.

The Spurs have won 40 straight at home going back to last season. San Antonio is off to its best start after 65 games at 55-10.

Despite playing without injured Jimmy Butler, Joakim Noah and Cameron Bairstow, Chicago remained within six points in the opening six minutes of the fourth quarter, but was unable to draw any closer as the Spurs continued to get second attempts.

After Chicago forced Aldridge to miss a 21-foot jumper, Danny Green came soaring in for a one-handed dunk that gave the Spurs a 102-92 lead with five minutes remaining.

Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol had 21 points each for the Bulls.

at Toronto 104, Atlanta 96: DeMar DeRozan had 30 points and five rebounds for the Raptors, who turned the ball over nine times before the game was 13 minutes old, but did a much better job of holding onto it the rest of the way. Al Horford (20 points, four rebounds, three assists) led the way for the Hawks, who cut the Toronto lead to 95-89 with 7:28 to go. But the Raptors scored six straight points to take control.

at Denver 116, Phoenix 98: Emmanuel Mudiay scored a career-high 30 points in a matchup of rookie guards, and the Nuggets won their third straight. The Phoenix’s Devin Booker had a career-high 35 in the loss, including 25 in the second half when the Suns made a run to wipe out a 15-point deficit and briefly lead.