Tim Thomas scored 24 points and Anthony Mason fell two assists shy of a triple-double as the Bucks swept their third straight season series from the Spurs with a 102-99 overtime victory.
San Antonio has been an NBA powerhouse the past three seasons but cannot solve Milwaukee, which won four straight meetings before this season and snapped the Spurs' 10-game winning streak Sunday at the Alamodome.
 The Big Dog and his mates haven't lost to the Spurs in four seasons. Gary Dineen/NBAE/Getty Images |
San Antonio trailed by as many as 15 points in the fourth quarter but rallied to force overtime and scored the first four points of the extra session for a 97-93 lead.
Thomas' basket with 73 seconds left made it 99-98, and he put the Bucks ahead for good 44 seconds later with a short baseline jumper.
"The last play, we drew up perfectly," Milwaukee coach George Karl said. "We wanted to get the shot off by the 28-second mark so we'd have another chance if we missed. Timmy made a great read and curled into the paint and hit a tough shot over (Tim) Duncan."
Steve Smith and Duncan each missed 3-pointers in the final seven seconds for San Antonio, which has lost three straight for the first time since a four-game slide from January 13-20.
"Not being able to close is frustrating," Duncan said. "We had opportunities down the stretch. A couple things didn't go our way; that's just how basketball goes."
"This team needs to play the type of defense we played at the end of the game tonight," Mason said. "We need to understand we can play defense that way the whole game. If we do that, games won't be coming down to the last shot."
Glenn Robinson scored 24 points but left with a left thigh bruise with 6:26 left in the fourth quarter. The Bucks already were without Ray Allen, who missed his fifth straight game with a knee injury.
Mason finsished with 18 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists and Sam Cassell added 16 points, seven assists and six rebounds.
Duncan had 38 points and 16 rebounds and Smith chipped in 13 points for the Spurs, who trailed, 79-66, entering the fourth quarter.
The Bucks grabbed their largest lead after Cassell opened the quarter with a layup and had an 85-73 advantage with 10:08 remaining before San Antonio used a 13-1 run to tie it.
"I thought we did a great job of hanging in," Popovich said. "I think a lot of teams would have cashed it in, but that shows what this team is going to be."
Duncan had four free throws and a dunk during the stretch and Antonio Daniels made a pair of layups, including the tying basket with 3:52 left.
Milwaukee scored seven of the next 10 points and took a 93-89 lead on a jumper by Mason 1:42 to go. But Duncan made a layup with 36 seconds left and sank two free throws with 12 seconds left to send it into overtime.
"If there is one good thing from this game, it's that we kept pushing," Duncan said. "We found opportunities to win."
Duncan scored nine points and rookie Tony Parker had eight of his 10 in the first quarter as San Antonio took a 32-23 lead. But Milwaukee made 15-of-21 shots and held the Spurs to 15 points in the second quarter while building a 57-47 halftime cushion.