Patty Mills had his best NBA haul in almost two months, bagging 15 points off the bench to make up for an unusually quiet night for fellow San Antonio Spur Tim Duncan.
Mills had a productive 15 minutes as the Spurs enjoyed a 116-105 win over the undermanned Chicago Bulls, making it five wins in a row for the defending NBA champions.
Frenchman Tony Parker scored a season-high 32 points and Kawhi Leonard added 20 at home as the Spurs improved to 39-23 for the season.
There wasn't much help from Duncan, though.
Arguably the NBA's greatest power forward and the league's 16th all-time scorer, he went without a feld goal (0-for-8) for the first time in a career spanning 1,311 games, including 1,545 in the playoffs.
"I don't talk to Timmy too much anymore, so if you want to tell him go ahead," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich told reporters.
"You talk to him. Say, 'What the hell was that about?'"
Duncan finished with three points on free throws and left without speaking to reporters.
Argentine Manu Ginobili also added 16 points for the Spurs who sit in seventh place in the West playoff race.
Spaniard Pau Gasol had 23 points with 15 rebounds, while Aaron Brooks netted 22 for the Bulls (39-25) who committed 22 turnovers resulting in 32 Spurs' points to drop one-half game behind idle Cleveland atop the Central Division.
"We turned the ball over too many times against a very good team," Gasol said.
The Bulls were playing without injured starters Derrick Rose (knee surgery), Jimmy Butler (left elbow sprain) and top reserve Taj Gibson (left ankle sprain).
Elsewhere Oklahoma City Thunder beat the Toronto Raptors 108-104; Red-hot Russell Westbrook making two free throws with 14.3 seconds left to cap a 30-point, 17-assist, 11-rebound outing for his fifth triple-double in the last six games and seventh of the season.
DeMar DeRozan had 24 points for tumbling Toronto (38-25), losers in eight of their last nine matches.
Golden State Warriors edged the LA Clippers 106-98 as Draymond Green tossed in 23 points, Klay Thompson and reserve Shaun Livingston had 21 apiece, and the league-best Warriors (49-12) used a decisive 30-18 third quarter to pull away from the visiting Clippers.
The visting Dallas Mavericks downed LA Lakers 100-93 with Monta Ellis firing in 26 of his 31 points in the second half, and the visiting Mavs (41-24) closing on a 16-3 run in the final 6.5 minutes to hand the Lakers (16-46) a fifth straight loss.
In the round's other matches Utah Jazz beat Brooklyn Nets 95-88; Orlando Magic touched out the Boston Celtics 103-98 and Charlotte Hornets had too much in the tank for Detroit Pistons 108-101.
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