Parker scores 32 as Spurs down Bulls for 5th straight win

Oklahoma City Thunder guard Russell Westbrook reacts to a play against the Toronto Raptors during the fourth quarter of their NBA game on Sunday. (Mark D Smith-USA TODAY Sports)DPA/Los Angeles Tim Duncan has had many milestones during his 18 NBA seasons with the San Antonio Spurs. But the future Hall of Famer’s latest achievement is not high on the list. Frenchman Tony Parker scored a season-high 32 points, Kawhi Leonard added 20 Sunday, carrying the Spurs to a 116-105 home-court victory over the undermanned Chicago Bulls.  The reigning NBA Champs (39-23) won their fifth in a row despite getting little help on the offensive end from Duncan. Arguably the NBA’s greatest power forward and the league’s 16th all-time scorer, Duncan 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  the waiting reporters. Argentine Manu Ginobili added 16 points and Australian Patty Mills had 15 off the bench for the Spurs (39-23), who sit in seventh place in the West playoff race. “Holy (expletive),” said Ginobili when told of Duncan’s first career goose egg game from the field. 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, playing without injured starters Derrick Rose (knee surgery), Jimmy Butler (left elbow sprain) and top reserve Taj Gibson (left ankle sprain), trailed 25-19 after one that swelled to 57-39 by halftime. Chicago pulled to within 93-85 with 7:24 remaining. But the Spurs responded, as Mills, Ginobili and Parker nailed triples to open a 102-85 cushion en route to the win. “They’re a good team; they’re strong on both sides of the ball,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said of the Spurs. “They’re the defending champions and they’ve got a lot of veterans that know how to play.  You’ve got to give them credit.” Elsewhere, Russell Westbrook earned his fifth triple double in his last six games to lift the Oklahoma City Thunder to a 108-104 win over the struggling Toronto Raptors. Westbrook, who is playing with a protective mask because of a facial fracture, had 30 points, 17 assists and 11 rebounds for his seventh triple double of the National Basketball Association season. He is the first player with at least 30 points, 11 rebounds and 17 assists in a game since Magic Johnson tallied 32 points, 11 rebounds and 20 assists in 1988.  Westbrook also joins Oscar Robertson as the only players to have at least 200 points, 50 rebounds and 50 assists over a five-game span. And he did it on Sunday without injured forward Kevin Durant. He credited his teammates with helping him reach another triple double. “Guys are making shots,” Westbrook said. “Guys put a lot of work in throughout the summer and throughout the year. My job is to find a way to get them easy shots and they are knocking them down.”