Dallas, TX – Tony Parker netted a game-high 21 points to go with nine assists and five rebounds as the San Antonio Spurs posted a wire-to- wire 111-86 victory over the intrastate rival Dallas Mavericks on Sunday at American Airlines Center.
Manu Ginobili scored 20 points on 6-of-12 shooting with five assists and five boards, while Tim Duncan donated a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Spurs, who have won five straight games.
Tiago Splitter added 13 points and Boris Diaw finished with 10 points in the victory.
"We shot the ball well," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "They had a tough night shooting, and obviously that makes a big difference."
Darren Collison scored a team-high 18 points and handed out eight assists, while Elton Brand finished with 14 and 10 boards for Dallas, which lost for the sixth consecutive game. Chris Kaman and Vince Carter added 13 points apiece in the setback.
San Antonio got off to a quick start, hitting six of its first eight shots to open a 14-2 margin early in the first quarter. A 16-footer by Parker with 4:33 left in the frame gave the Spurs a 25-12 lead, but then the Mavs began to make up some ground.
Collison put in a layup to ignite Dallas on a 10-2 surge to pull the home side within 27-22 heading to the second period.
Brand opened the second session with a jumper for Dallas to make it a three- point affair. But the Spurs then went on a 13-6 burst to widen the lead to 40-30 with 6:50 to play before the break.
The Mavs responded with an 11-4 burst to cut the deficit down to 44-41, but the visitors closed the half on a 13-4 flurry of their own to carry a comfortable 57-45 advantage into the locker room.
Trailing by 11 with 8:01 on the third quarter clock, the Mavs ripped off six straight points to slice the deficit to 65-60 with 6:01 to go.
Ginobili answered the Dallas run with a corner 3-ball to push the lead back to 68-60 with 4:53 left. San Antonio kept the Mavs at bay for the remainder of the quarter, scoring the final five points of the period to lead 82-70 after three quarters.
San Antonio breezed through the fourth quarter, leading by double digits for the duration of the final period.
"We just didn't get it done, and we haven't gotten it done in a pretty significant stretch of games now," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "It starts with me and then it goes right down the line. There are no excuses. We have simply got to dig in harder and we know we've got to do a better job."
Game Notes
San Antonio has won seven of the last nine meetings between the teams ... The Spurs snapped a four-game road losing streak ... San Antonio shot 50.6 percent from the floor, while holding Dallas to 40 percent ... The Mavs shot just 1- of-16 from three-point range.
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