SAN ANTONIO — Even when losing by 16 points, Cleveland Cavaliers coach Byron Scott congratulated his players for giving a good effort. As another dreary season enters its final week, it’s all the Cavaliers have left to cling to.

“I just congratulated the guys,” Scott said. “Obviously, we want to win games, but just on how hard they’ve been playing, not taking anything for granted, not looking at the schedule, not looking at the fact you’ve got three games left in the next four nights. Just taking one game at a time and doing the first thing on the board every night, which is compete.”

The Cavs lost to the Spurs 114-98 Sunday on a night both teams inched closer toward their destinies. The Spurs need just one more victory to clinch home-court advantage throughout the playoffs, thanks to the Thunder’s loss to the Lakers on Sunday, while the Cavs are creeping closer to their date with the lottery.

Victories by both Golden State and Sacramento on Sunday helped negate any of the “damage” done by the Cavaliers’ victory over the New York Knicks on Friday.

The Cavs still have the league’s fifth-worst record, percentage points ahead of the Kings, but the two teams are again tied in the wins column, which is all that matters when teams are racing to pile up losses.

The Spurs rested Tim Duncan on Sunday in preparation for the playoffs, which was at least a small reason the Cavaliers were able to keep the game competitive. After losing at home to the Spurs by 35 at the beginning of the month, they were within 11 at the start of the fourth quarter on Sunday.

“Tonight we actually competed,” said Tristan Thompson, who had nine points and nine rebounds. “Last time we played the Spurs, they kicked our butt.”

The game got away from the Cavaliers in the fourth quarter when they went four minutes without a basket. They trailed 89-77 on a jumper from Samardo Samuels with 8:50 left, but they missed their next four shots and had a turnover as the Spurs extended the lead to 102-82.

Manu Ginobili scored 20 points in 22 minutes off the bench and Stephen Jackson scored 13 points in the fourth quarter as a pair of noted Cavs killers did it again. Behind those two, the Spurs’ bench outscored the starters 62-52.

Alonzo Gee returned after missing three games with a sprained ankle to score 10 points off the bench, Antawn Jamison had a game-high 21 points and Kyrie Irving had 19. Irving turned it over four times, but had three assists and showed more aggression at getting to the basket. Irving has played three games now since missing a couple of weeks with a sprained right shoulder, and with each game he looks more like the player who led the team for the first three months of the season.

“Especially the way my legs feel, I feel pretty good,” Irving said. “It felt like I was back in the beginning of the season.”

Five of the Cavs’ final six games are against teams headed to the playoffs. They’re 1-2 in the first three with Memphis upcoming tonight. But they have competed and given a much better effort in every game since falling behind to Detroit by 50 points last week, which is why Scott is encouraged entering the offseason.

“We’ve got guys with great character, got a lot of heart and a lot of pride,” Scott said. “When this is all said and done, it gives you a lot of encouragement because you have a lot to build on. We want to end the season continuing to play that hard because it really gives us a lot of fuel going into next season.”

———

Visit the Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio) at www.ohio.com