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Wednesday, Dec. 15 8:30pm ET
Spurs look ugly but win | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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 GAME FLOW
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- San Antonio has not been playing well lately, but the Spurs have still been able to win. Looking less than impressive, the defending world champions rallied to defeat the Houston Rockets 83-77 Wednesday night.
"We played poorly. We're confused and discombobulated," said San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich, who saw his team win for the third time in the last four games. "We have a heck of a lot of work to do. It's a matter of concentration, turnovers, different people and different defenses. We just have to keep working at it." Tim Duncan had 20 points and David Robinson added 14 points for San Antonio, which made only 41 percent of its field goal attempts and turned the ball over 14 times against the Rockets. "We're not playing our best basketball," said Duncan, who grabbed 10 rebounds to lead San Antonio. "I'm happy we won. Tonight the ball didn't bounce our way, but it's a win in the books no matter what." Steve Francis had 24 points for Houston, which dropped its fifth straight game since losing Charles Barkley to a ruptured quadriceps tendon in his left leg on Dec. 8. The Spurs were trailing by seven with 7:08 left in the game before going on a 12-0 run to take a 76-71 lead. Robinson scored six points in the run. A free throw by Cuttino Mobley with 1:54 to play brought Houston within 76-73. San Antonio answered with two free throws apiece by Duncan and Porter sandwiched around a jump hook by Kenny Thomas that gave the Spurs a 80-75 lead with 23.7 seconds left. Mario Elie connected on three free throws for San Antonio over the final 15 seconds that gave the Spurs their largest lead of the game at the final buzzer. "We lost it at the free throw line," said Houston coach Rudy Tomjanovich, who saw his team make only 14 of 26 free throws. "The theme this year so far has been moral victories. We need a tangible one right now." Houston, which connected on only 40.0 percent of its shots, dropped to 7-17 with the loss. The Rockets had lost 101-90 to the New York Knicks on Tuesday night in Houston. "We outplayed them for three quarters and then gave it away the last six minutes," Francis said. "In the last two days we have played both the teams that played in the championship last year and it seems like we gave both games away." Game notesDuncan has scored in double figures 149 times in 156 games. ... San Antonio, which leads the NBA averaging 7.91 blocks, had 11 against Houston. ... San Antonio is now 10-1 at the Alamodome this season. ... Francis has now scored 20-or-more points nine times this season. ... The Rockets are now 1-12 when trailing at the half. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Houston Clubhouse San Antonio Clubhouse RECAPS Utah 96 Boston 86
San Antonio 83
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