Wemby, Spurs bag 10th straight win

The San Antonio Spurs rallied from 22 points down to beat the Chicago Bulls, 124-119, on Wednesday, notching a 10th straight National Basketball Association (NBA) win and keeping the pressure on the league-leading Los Angeles Lakers.

The Lakers improved their record to 11-2 — half a game ahead of the 10-2 Spurs atop the West — with a 123-112 victory over the Bucks in Milwaukee.

Luka Doncic scored 32 points but limped out late in the fourth quarter after rolling his right ankle.

In Chicago, Victor Wembanyama poured in 32 points to lead seven Spurs players who scored double figures.

But San Antonio had to claw back from a 22-point first-half deficit against the lowly Bulls, who dropped their eighth straight.

Chicago’s 41 first-quarter points were the most allowed in the opening period by the Spurs this season.

They limited Wembanyama early but couldn’t keep it up. He finished an efficient 13-of-18 from the floor with nine rebounds, two steals and five blocked shots.

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson lamented his team’s lack of “physicality and resistance” in the first half.

“Just a really sloppy performance from us defensively in the first half,” he said.

The Lakers led most of the way in Milwaukee, where they also faced a struggling team in the Bucks.

“(It) could have easily been a trap game for us,” Lakers coach JJ Redick said.

“So I appreciate the way we handled the first half and then to build that lead in the third quarter and through the early part of the fourth was excellent.”

Redick said he thought Doncic’s injury was “just a light tweak.”

Teammate Austin Reaves will require further tests on a left heel injury suffered in the third quarter when he landed awkwardly.

The Cleveland Cavaliers, led by 32 points from James Harden and 23 from Donovan Mitchell, beat the defending champion New York Knicks, 115-107, at Madison Square Garden.

The Cavs got off to a hot start and led by 12 in the first quarter before hanging on for the win.

The Knicks managed to tie the score four times in the second half but never took the lead.