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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- The San Antonio Spurs fought off a feeling of
overconfidence and then put away the Los Angeles Clippers.
Tim Duncan had 22 points and 16 rebounds as the Spurs beat the Clippers 92-70 Wednesday night. The victory was San Antonio's fifth straight and second over Los Angeles in three days. The Spurs, who
beat Los Angeles 96-67 on Monday, won their 12th consecutive
against the Clippers.
"You hope your players are self-motivated, but there are going
to be those nights, like tonight, where at half I thought we were
pretty lethargic in the first half and we had to talk about it at
halftime," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "I think being
aware of it, pointing it out and not letting anybody hide from it
is one of the main things we can do as coaches. But the best thing
is to have players who are self-motivated and really have a goal in
mind and are committed to that."
San Antonio placed five players in double figures as David
Robinson added 15 points and 10 rebounds. Derek Anderson and Malik
Rose each scored 13. Rose also added 10 rebounds.
"Malik Rose gave us energy," Robinson said. "He was great on the offensive boards and with his hustle. We needed someone who rebounds and he does. I think we
are reaching a good level of consistency with our lineup."
Michael Olowokandi scored 14 points for Los Angeles, which lost
its ninth straight game. The Clippers shot 31-for-86 from the
field.
"It's not our shot selection, we're just missing very makable
shots," Los Angeles coach Alvin Gentry said. "That puts a lot of
pressure on us defensively. It's just hard right now for everybody.
It's hard on the players, hard on the coaches, hard on everybody.
This is not what we envisioned."
Behind 11 third-quarter points by Anderson, San Antonio was able
to stretch a three-point halftime lead to 68-50 by the end of the
period. Anderson's 3-point field goal at the buzzer gave San
Antonio its largest lead of the game.
Los Angeles opened the fourth quarter with a 7-4 run, cutting
the Spurs' lead to 72-57 on a dunk shot by Corey Maggette with 8:06
to play.
San Antonio put the game away with a 16-5 run that was capped by
a Shawnelle Scott basket with 1:47 to play that gave the Spurs an
88-64 lead with 1:47 remaining.
"We had a good third quarter and a pretty good fourth
quarter," said Popovich, whose team improved to 12-1 when holding
an opponent under 80 points. "Luckily it was enough. The Clippers
didn't shoot very well tonight so that was enough to get us over."
Both teams struggled in the first half.
San Antonio, which shot 14-for-39 from the field, led 37-34 at
intermission. Duncan had 10 points in the first half.
"We are just going through that slump right now that we knew
would come," said Clippers forward Lamar Odom, who was held to
seven points. "Right now, we just have to try and stay in these
games. We are not shooting well right now."
Game notes
San Antonio leads the series 79-24 over the Clippers, who
are only 7-45 all-time in games played in San Antonio . . . The win
raised Gregg Popovich's career record to 191-130, he is the
winningest coach in San Antonio history. ... Tim Duncan's
double-double was his 33rd of the season and 187th of his career .
. . Los Angeles is 3-14 in its last 17 games.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
LA Clippers Clubhouse
San Antonio Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 102
Indiana 96
Orlando 100
Washington 96
Atlanta 102
Toronto 97
Detroit 112
New Jersey 103
Milwaukee 116
Denver 111
Minnesota 96
LA Lakers 83
San Antonio 92
LA Clippers 70
Phoenix 101
Vancouver 92
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