Tim Duncan hadn’t scored more than 16 points in a game in nearly three weeks, but his 19-point breakout against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday night at the AT&T Center was a factor in a convincing 107-92 win.

It also pushed him past Washington Wizards veteran Paul Pierce for 15th place on the NBA’s all-time scoring list. Duncan, who will turn 39 on April 25, now has 25,890 points, 18 more than Pierce.

Pierce, 37, has sat out the last two Wizards games and has scored only 29 points in their last eight games.

“I didn’t know he was close to passing Paul,” Spurs guard Danny Green said. “I just know he’s up there in almost every category. I’m surprised he’s not No. 1 in everything. He’s been doing it for a while and very efficiently.”

Duncan made 6 of 7 field goals, hit 7 of 8 free throws and grabbed seven rebounds against the Warriors in just 24 minutes, 5 seconds.

It was his most aggressive offensive performance in weeks, something his teammates on the perimeter appreciated.

“It opens up so much for everybody else and we need him inside,” Green said. “(The Warriors are) not a big-inside-presence team. They’re more perimeter oriented. We’ve got to be able to attack that and when he’s making shots in there, being aggressive and drawing some fouls it puts a lot of pressure on them.”

Safety first: While the tightness in Tiago Splitter’s right calf that forced him from Friday’s game against the Nuggets is not considered serious, the 6-foot-10 Spurs center was held out of Sunday’s game against the Warriors and likely will miss the Tuesday-Wednesday games against the Thunder and Rockets.

With the playoffs less than two weeks away, Gregg Popovich vowed to proceed with caution.

“There’s some edema and some stuff in there,” Popovich said before tipoff. “It’s not real serious, but enough to keep him out a while. Hopefully we’ll get him back. He’s part of why we’ve played well lately, a big part of it. But he’ll miss tonight, he’ll probably miss Oklahoma City and Houston back-to-back, I’d imagine.

“I don’t want to lose him. No matter who we end up playing (in the playoffs), he’s a big part of that.”

Splitter first suffered a strained muscle in his right calf during training camp. He missed 19 of the first 20 games of the season with the injury.

Officially steamed: The Warriors played Sunday without backup guard Shaun Livingston, suspended for the game by the NBA for having hit Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki in the groin in Golden State’s win in Dallas on Saturday night.

While Warriors coach Steve Kerr acknowledged Livingston’s blow required suspension, he was upset that game officials ignored a retaliation blow by Mavericks guard J.J. Barea.

“Clear retaliation,” Kerr said. “They look at it on the replay and no flagrant. But I wasn’t pleased with anything regarding the officiating last night.”

mikemonroe@express-news.net

Twitter: @Monroe_SA