Spurs Win 14th Straight, Top Dirk-less Mavs
SAN ANTONIO (Sports Network) - DeJuan Blair scored a season-high 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds, as the San Antonio Spurs won their 14th consecutive home game with a 101-89 victory over the Dallas Mavericks at the AT&T Center.
Tony Parker added 18 points and six assists for the Spurs, who improved to 21-2 as the host this season.
Tim Duncan donated 16 points and 12 boards for San Antonio, which started a four-game homestand on Friday. Manu Ginobili chipped in with 11 points in the Spurs' fifth straight victory.
"We didn't want to take them lightly," Duncan said. "We know they're dealing with a bunch of injuries and everything else, but we wanted to come out and jump on them early, try to sustain and we did a pretty good job of that."
Shawn Marion finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds for the Mavericks, who were without star forward Dirk Nowitzki for a ninth consecutive contest. Dallas is 2-7 without Nowitzki, who is recovering from a right knee injury suffered in a win over Oklahoma City on December 27.
J.J. Barea and Dominique Jones each added 13 points for the Mavs, who have lost four in a row.
Jason Kidd's three-pointer gave Dallas a 7-6 edge early in the game. But the Spurs responded with a 14-4 run to essentially take over the contest.
Parker, Duncan and Blair each tallied four points during the surge, which George Hill capped with two free throws for a 20-11 lead. The score was 27-19 heading to the second.
San Antonio opened the second stanza on a 14-3 burst to create some distance. Ginobili tallied six points during the flurry, which Gary Neal ended with a jumper to make it 41-22.
The Spurs took a 57-42 margin into the locker room.
San Antonio led 85-61 after three periods, but Dallas used a late burst in the fourth to make the score look respectable.
"The first three quarters were very difficult," Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle said. "We're playing a great team who's playing extremely well and we just got out-played. There's not much more to say than that."
Game Notes
The Spurs lead the season-series with the Mavs, 2-1...Dallas fell to 12-4 away from Big D this season...San Antonio went 23-of-29 from the charity stripe, while the Mavericks made 11-of-18 foul shots...Kidd had seven points...San Antonio's last home loss came on November 26 against Dallas.
