SAN ANTONIO – Forward Kawhi Leonard had 24 points and 13 rebounds and the San Antonio Spurs used a season-high 18 steals to roll past the Phoenix Suns 98-84 on Monday night and remain unbeaten at home.
Phoenix played without leading scorer guard Eric Bledsoe, who was ruled out of the game just before tipoff with a knee injury. The Suns had a season-high 28 turnovers.
Guard Tony Parker added 20 points and guard Danny Green scored a season-high 18 points for San Antonio (11-3), which is 7-0 at the AT&T Center this season. Reserve guard Patty Mills scored for 10 points for the Spurs, who shot 51.2 percent from the floor but converted just 5 of 10 free throw.
Phoenix (7-7) was led by forward Markieff Morris’ game-high 28 points, just two of which came in the fourth quarter, on 12-of-15 shooting from the field.
Guard Brandon Knight scored 18 points for the Suns, including 12 in the fourth quarter, and reserve forward T.J. Warren added 16 points.
The Spurs led 20-17 at the end of the first quarter as Leonard poured in 11 points, including the first seven for San Antonio. Morris had eight points in the quarter for the Suns, who stayed close even though they had had nine turnovers in the first 12 minutes.
San Antonio expanded its advantage to 44-34 at halftime despite missing five of its nine free throws in the first two quarters and committing 10 turnovers.
Phoenix shot just 39.4 percent in the first 24 minutes and allowed San Antonio 10 points off of its 15 turnovers, 10 of which were Spurs steals.
After the Suns cut the Spurs’ lead to 44-38 on a Morris jumper with 10:22 left in the third quarter, the Spurs reasserted themselves with a 10-3 run in which Leonard scored seven straight points.
But Morris kept shooting — he had 14 points in the quarter — and Phoenix got within 67-60 heading into the fourth quarter.
Suns coach Jeff Hornacek tried to steal a few extra minutes of rest for Morris at the start of the fourth quarter, but the move backfired on the Suns. By the time Morris came back in the game with 7:45 to play, San Antonio had built its lead back to 78-64 and Phoenix never again got closer than nine points.
NOTES: Spurs F LaMarcus Aldridge missed his second straight game with a mild left ankle sprain suffered in the first quarter of San Antonio’s 104-90 loss to New Orleans on Friday. … Spurs G Tony Parker has scored in double figures in 11 of the team’s first 13 games and ranks in the NBA’s top 20 in field goal percentage (.532). … Former Spurs great George Gervin was originally chosen by the Suns in the 1974 NBA Draft. … San Antonio won three of the four meetings with Phoenix last season. … Suns G Eric Bledsoe scored 29 points on Sunday at New Orleans, extending his career-long streak of games with at least 20 points to eight, the most by a Phoenix player since Amare Stoudemire in 2009-10. … G Brandon Knight already has multiple 30-point/10-rebound games this season and is the only Phoenix guard with that stat line multiple times since 1985-86, according to Basketball-Reference.