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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) – Spurs coach Gregg Popovich
had his doubts during his team's game against the Grizzlies,
although they weren't as strong during a long stretch of the second
half.
|  | | The Spurs' Tim Duncan lays up an easy first-half basket against the Grizzlies. |
San Antonio held Vancouver scoreless for a nine-minute stretch
Monday night in a 91-77 win over Vancouver.
Trailing by as many as eight points early in the second half,
Popovich was starting to think his team might be looking past
Vancouver as the Spurs began a stretch of four games in five
nights.
Those fears were dispelled late in the third quarter after
Vancouver's Mike Bibby hit a jumper with 57 seconds left to tie the
game at 67-all.
The Spurs didn't allow so much as a free throw until Mahmoud
Abdul-Rauf connected on a runner with 8:03 gone in the fourth
quarter and the game already in garbage time.
The 23-2 run bridging the third and fourth quarters enabled the
Spurs to win their 15th straight game against the Grizzlies, who
lost their eighth in a row overall. The scoreless drought was three
seconds off a franchise record for Vancouver.
"That's pretty tough to do," Popovich said. "When we play
defense, we're a hell of a team. When we don't, we're another guy
on the street. They finally realized that we were going to be
beaten if we don't play defense because (Vancouver) is going to
play until the end."
Bibby came within a foul shot of matching the 25-point effort of
San Antonio's Derek Anderson, who carried the Spurs while Tim
Duncan and David Robinson struggled offensively, combining for 25
points on 11-for-32 shooting.
San Antonio started the contest quickly, hitting 10 of its first
14 field goal attempts, mostly from the perimeter. However, the
Grizzlies hung tough defensively and began to get baskets inside,
even against the twin towers of Duncan and Robinson.
Vancouver led by as many as eight points in the first half and
49-47 at the break, partially a result of a 21-19 edge on the
boards against the Spurs, the NBA's top defensive rebounding team.
Poor shooting by the Spurs also played a factor. San Antonio
shot 35 percent in the second quarter and opened the second half by
missing nine of its first 11 tries.
"Missed layups, missed free throws, missed everything," Duncan
said. "Luckily we had two halves to play."
"We didn't quit," said Grizzlies coach Sidney Lowe. "If
anything, I think we tried too hard. You saw guys try to go on
their own between double-teams, trying to make a move before we
even catch a ball.
Game notes
A calf injury forced the Spurs to place guard Jaren Jackson
on the injured list. Center Shawnelle Scott was activated. The
Grizzlies placed Brent Price on the injured list and activated
Kevin Edwards, who had not played since Jan. 19... The Spurs won
their three previous meetings against Vancouver by an average 21.4
points. ... The game began with no fewer than nine top-five NBA
draft picks in uniform, the most among any two clubs in the league.
The announced attendance of 10,798 was the second lowest in
franchise history for Vancouver.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
San Antonio Clubhouse
Vancouver Clubhouse
RECAPS
Utah 109
Atlanta 102
Miami 87
Detroit 84
Milwaukee 107
New Jersey 100
Orlando 95
Dallas 81
San Antonio 91
Vancouver 77
LA Clippers 99
Denver 86
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Stromile Swift throws down the alley-oop from Mike Bibby.
avi: 400 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
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