Spurs-Magic Preview

By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO
Posted Jan 18 2012 1:49AM

The San Antonio Spurs may be embarrassed about their latest performance, and their longest road losing streak in 23 years may be cause for even more shame.

The Spurs attempt to end a 10-game losing streak away from home Wednesday night by beating the surging Magic in Orlando for the first time in almost four years.

San Antonio (9-5) has won all nine of its home games, but has dropped all five on the road. Dating to last season and including three playoff defeats at Memphis, the Spurs have lost their last 10 games away from home.

They haven't endured a longer road losing streak since dropping 22 straight Feb. 4-Nov. 14, 1989, two years before current starting guard Kawhi Leonard was born.

"We're really good at home and on the road, we (stink). That's the biggest difference," coach Gregg Popovich said.

San Antonio struggled on the road again Tuesday, losing 120-98 at Miami. The Spurs seemed to be headed for a victory while leading by as many as 17, but they were outscored 39-12 in the third quarter and never recovered.

"We should be embarrassed," Popovich said.

The Spurs are allowing an average of 109.0 points on the road this season, allowing opponents to shoot 53.7 percent overall and 50.0 percent from beyond the arc.

A visit to Orlando (10-3) may not solve those issues.

The Spurs have lost three in a row there since a victory on March 25, 2008, surrendering 107.7 points per game in those defeats.

Unlike San Antonio, the Magic are on a roll and are seeking their third win in as many days. Fatigue didn't appear to be a problem Tuesday, when they defeated Charlotte 96-89 and extended their winning streak to five games.

"Playing some great basketball - just got to keep it up," said center Dwight Howard, who had 25 points and 17 rebounds against the Bobcats. "We picked it up a little bit. We just have to be consistent and understand that this is going to be a tough season."

Howard has been a bit inconsistent in recent games, scoring a season-high 45 in a 117-109 win at Golden State last Thursday, but following that up with eight points in Monday's 102-93 victory at New York.

Howard totaled 55 points while making 22 of 29 shots and grabbing 32 rebounds as the Magic and Spurs split two meetings last season, with the home team winning each. The home team has won the last four games in this series.

The Spurs aren't getting similar production from their own veteran big man.

Tim Duncan was held to eight points and seven boards Tuesday, and is averaging career lows of 12.4 and 6.9, respectively.

Tony Parker leads San Antonio with 16.1 points and 7.2 assists per game, and he's been shooting 51.1 percent and averaging 21.0 points over his last five games.

Parker lifts Spurs over Magic 85-83 in OT

By KYLE HIGHTOWER
Posted Jan 19 2012 12:21AM

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) It took a while, but the San Antonio Spurs have finally found success on the road this season.

They had to work a little longer than normal to realize it, though.

After dropping their first five games away from Texas to begin year, the Spurs put the ball in the hands of one of their stars late in the game Wednesday night to help them grind out an 85-83 overtime victory over the Orlando Magic.

Tony Parker, who has helped carry the team with Manu Ginobili sidelined, scored 25 points, including 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime, to help preserve the win.

"We wanted to come here and try to play well and have an opportunity to win the game," Parker said. "I'm happy it bounced our way finally."

Tim Duncan said the effort was just good enough and came at the right time for a team that was coming off blowing a 17-point lead in a 22-point loss to Miami.

"It took every minute of that game and we couldn't make shots at the right time, but we continued to make stops, continued to push," he said.

The loss snapped a season-best five-game win streak for the Magic, which also lost the only game of their lone back-to-back-to-back stretch of the season.

Dwight Howard led the Magic with 24 points and 25 rebounds, with Ryan Anderson adding 17 and Von Wafer 15 off the bench. But it wasn't enough for them to overcome a dismal shooting night.

Both teams traded a pair of baskets to begin the extra period before and 18-foot jumper by Duncan made it 81-79 with under a minute to play in OT.

A dunk by Howard off a missed jumper by Jameer Nelson quickly tied it again before Gary Neal's 3-pointer on the ensuing possession put the Spurs back up three.

Wafer drove, was able to spin in a layup and was fouled with 16.3 left, but missed the free throw.

Richard Jefferson was fouled on the rebound, though was able to connect on only one of his two free throws.

The Magic got multiple looks at a 3-pointer to win the game on their final possession, but J.J. Redick's final swish from the top of the key was ruled to be after the final horn.

Spurs coach Greg Popovich said he isn't surprised by the resiliency his team showed when things got tight.

"They always respond and tonight they did," he said. "They were aggressive, they were physical and more than anything they just played through whatever was going to happen on the court. They didn't worry about the last play. ... Just that mental toughness that they showed after not showing it last night, that was very satisfying for the whole group."

Winners of 10 of 12 games entering Wednesday, there hadn't been much to rattle the Magic during that streak.

Not long stretches of games with few breaks. Not playing poor defense, shooting badly or allowing teams to hang around late.

But against San Antonio, the Magic at times were guilty of all, most notably a 33 percent (29 for 87) shooting night from the field.

Still, coach Stan Van Gundy said afterward that the deficiencies came most from his end this time around,

"Just kicking ourselves," he said. "Our guys deserve to win with the effort they put out tonight. But I'm kind of disappointed in myself."

Specifically, he noted that he thought he might have reacted to different situations too slow at times and played Howard and Nelson too long. Howard played 40 minutes and Nelson 38.

"We just came up short in the end," Howard said. "Third game in a row, (we) fought hard for the whole game. So there's nothing bad you can say about tonight's game."

Parker scored 10 of the Spurs first 12 points of the fourth quarter to push San Antonio out to a 69-64 lead with less than eight minutes to play in regulation.

Orlando came back and got a steal and layup on the other end by layup by Redick to tie it at 73 with 36.9 seconds remaining before a tip-in by Duncan on the Spurs next trip.

Redick tied it again with a pair of free-throws with 17 seconds left, but Parker badly missed a jumper. The Magic got the rebound, but with only .03 seconds they couldn't get off a clean shot.

The Magic were without one of their best post entry passers Wednesday with starter Hedo Turkoglu sitting because of injury, and it showed for Orlando in its half-court offense.

Duncan matched up with Howard defensively, playing him mostly straight up with no double-team help.

The philosophy worked for the most part with the Magic leading by just three points at the break and Howard managing only seven field goal and four free-throw attempts for eight first-half points.

The Spurs failed to capitalize, though, shooting 40 percent in the half, including 1 for 8 from the 3-point line.

As good as the win felt, Spurs forward Richard Jefferson said it is nothing they are going to dwell on.

"I know it's the first road victory, but let us not get carried away," he said. "It's not like we were a bad team, or under .500. ... We had some tough losses and bad losses. We have a quality team here. We just have to play better on the road for a longer period of time."

Notes: Howard recorded his fourth 20-point, 20-rebound game of the season. ... Turkoglu missed his first start of the season with back spasms. Swingman Quentin Richardson made his first start of the season in his place. SG Jason Richardson sat out for the third straight game with a bone bruise on his left knee. ... The Spurs begin a stretch of four games in six days when they host the Kings.

Notebook: Spurs 85, Magic 83

By Dick Scanlon, for NBA.com
Posted Wednesday January 18, 2012 11:36PM

THE FACTS: J.J. Redick's 3-pointer at the end of overtime came a half-second late, enabling the San Antonio Spurs to record their first road victory of the season, 85-83, over the Orlando Magic.

Gary Neal's 3-pointer with 28.2 seconds left -- his only points of the game -- put the Spurs ahead to stay and the Magic had 13.5 seconds left after Richard Jefferson's missed free throw.

Dwight Howard rebounded Ryan Anderson's missed shot -- his 25th rebound of the game -- and got the ball out to Redick, whose shot came after the horn.

Tony Parker scored a game-high 25 points for the Spurs, 14 of them in the fourth quarter.

QUOTABLE: "Basketball is weird sometimes. I was having great shots; they just weren't going in. I knew it couldn't last the whole game so I kept shooting."
-- Tony Parker, who was 4-for-12 through three quarters.

THE STAT: Although the Magic lead the NBA in 3-pointers by a wide margin, Von Wafer was the only Magic player to hit one until Ryan Anderson connected with 6:03 left in the fourth quarter.

TURNING POINT: Parker's hot shooting put the Spurs up by as many as five points early on the fourth quarter, and although the Magic tied the game several times after that, they never regained the lead.

QUOTABLE II: "Our defense was great and then Parker got going, and that pretty much was the difference in the game."
-- Magic guard J.J. Redick.

HOT: Parker made his first seven shots in the fourth quarter and scored 16 points in the fourth quarter and overtime.

NOT: The Magic's Jameer Nelson shot 2-for-16 and missed all four of his 3-point shots.

GOOD MOVE: The Spurs concentrated on defending the perimeter late in the game, knowing they could foul Howard if necessary and put him at the foul line.

BAD MOVE: The slumping Nelson played 38 minutes after playing 31 on Tuesday night and 31 on Monday.

QUOTABLE III: "I had Jameer out there with no legs whatsoever. I mean, 38 minutes on the third [straight] night, that wasn't right. That was bad coaching, but I'm going to say if it happens again next week, I'll probably end up doing it again."
-- Magic coach Stan Van Gundy.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Howard's 20-20 (points/rebounds) was his fourth of the season.

ROOKIE WATCH: In his fifth start for the Spurs, Kawhi Leonard had two points, two rebounds and two assists in 21 minutes.

NOTABLE: The Magic had won five straight . . . It marked the first time the Magic have played home games on consecutive nights since Nov. 23-24, 2007 . . . Orlando had a 60-41 rebound advantage . . . Hedo Turkoglu (back spams) and Jason Richardson (bruised left knee) did not play for the Magic.

UP NEXT: For the Spurs, Friday vs. Sacramento, Saturday @ Houston, Monday @ New Orleans. For the Magic, Friday vs. L.A. Lakers, Monday @ Boston, Tuesday @ Indiana.

• Spurs: Ford, Ginobili
• Magic: Richardson, Turkoglu

• Spurs: --
• Magic: Davis

• Lead Changes: 17
• Times Tied: 12

• Arena: Amway Center, Orlando, FL
• Officials: #23 Jason Phillips, #74 Curtis Blair, #26 Pat Fraher
• Attendance: 18846
• Duration: 2:40