Hornets-Spurs Preview

By MATT BEARDMORE
Posted Feb 02 2012 12:51AM

The annual rodeo trip is quickly approaching for the San Antonio Spurs.

The way they've struggled on the road, the Spurs need to make the most of their brief time at home.

San Antonio looks to improve its league-best home record Thursday night when it meets the Western Conference-worst New Orleans Hornets.

Back from a 1-2 trip, the Spurs (14-9) erased an 18-point third-quarter deficit and opened their three-game homestand Wednesday with a 99-91 victory over Houston.

The Spurs are 11-1 at home, and they'll try to continue their strong play there before kicking off a season-high nine-game trip following Saturday's game against NBA-leading Oklahoma City.

San Antonio, 3-8 on the road, posted a 104-102 victory in New Orleans on Jan. 23 for its eighth win in 10 meetings with the Hornets.

Tim Duncan finished with a season-high 28 points in that contest, including a 13-foot game-winning shot over Emeka Okafor with 1.4 seconds left.

The 35-year-old forward was just as dominant Wednesday, scoring 16 of his 24 points in the third quarter and grabbing seven rebounds.

"Tim Duncan, he went to the fountain of youth or something yesterday, 'cause today he looked phenomenal," guard Gary Neal said after hitting three 3-pointers and scoring 15 of the Spurs' 41 bench points.

So did Tony Parker, who made half of his 16 field-goal attempts and scored 24 points after shooting 4 for 20 in the previous two games.

The Spurs' point guard also handed out four assists to move within 14 of passing Avery Johnson for the most in team history with 4,475.

Parker had a career-high 17 assists and scored 20 points in last month's victory in New Orleans.

The Hornets (4-18) make their first of two visits to San Antonio this season following Wednesday's 120-103 home loss to Phoenix.

Backup guard Greivis Vasquez had career highs with 20 points and 12 assists - the first Hornet reserve with 20 points and 10 assists in a game - but New Orleans' highest-scoring game of the season wasn't enough as it yielded its most points since a 121-89 road loss to Dallas on April 13.

"It seems like we had the game in hand (with a 13-point second-quarter lead) or had a rhythm to the game that was in our favor," said point guard Jarrett Jack, who had 26 points, nine assists and six boards in the Jan. 23 defeat. "To let them come back in the fashion and quick manner they did is just difficult."

The Hornets will try to rebound from their 18th loss in 20 games by snapping a four-game road losing streak. New Orleans' last five-game skid away from home was an 0-7 stretch Nov. 29-Dec. 27, 2010.

San Antonio, which has won 12 of 14 at home in this series, is trying to match a season high with its third straight win.

Duncan, Parker lead Spurs past Hornets 93-81

By PAUL J. WEBER
Posted Feb 03 2012 12:02AM

SAN ANTONIO (AP) Tim Duncan may not make the All-Star game for the first time in 12 years, or even give the San Antonio Spurs much scoring on most nights.

But even in back-to-backs, he can still resemble his old self.

Duncan scored 19 points, Tony Parker had had 18 and the Spurs ran away from the New Orleans Hornets in the fourth quarter to win their third in a row, 93-81 on Thursday night.

A night after Duncan scored 25 in a win over Houston, it was somewhat surprising he even played. Coach Gregg Popovich has vowed to limit Duncan's wear and tear - even declaring that the 35-year-old will sit at least one game when the Spurs play four in five nights- and playing the West's worst team seemed to invite a night off.

On the other hand, Popovich said, Duncan's body is holding up just fine so far.

"We kept his minutes down," said Popovich, who played Duncan for 22 minutes against New Orleans. "He didn't play that much. As long as the minutes are low, he feels pretty good."

The Hornets didn't make it easy. Carly Landry scored 17 points and Greivis Vasquez added 16 points staring in place of Jarrett Jack, keeping New Orleans close before the Spurs blew on the game in the fourth.

Jack sat out with a sore knee but the pain isn't considered serious. The Hornets have lost 12 of their last 13.

New Orleans trailed by just 3 after the third quarter but was outscored 22-12 in the fourth. The Hornets shot 29 percent in the final period, while the Spurs missed only five shots.

"We lost the last two games in the fourth quarter," Vasquez said. "We play hard in the third quarter and then we do not execute in the fourth. As a point guard it's hard to fill Chris Paul's shoes but I expect myself to be better and that takes a little work"

Tiago Splitter added 16 points and Danny Green had 11 off the bench for the Spurs, who improved to an NBA-best 12-1 at home. They need to stockpile all the home wins they can: After hosting the NBA-leading Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night, the Spurs won't be back home for three weeks.

The San Antonio Rodeo runs the Spurs out of town every February - but the franchise has never seen a stretch like this. The compressed schedule in wake of the NBA lockout has San Antonio in the midst of playing 16 of 21 games outside the AT&T Center, the toughest road run in Spurs history.

So far, the Spurs are just 3-8 away from home.

"We got to find a way to win on the road. That's the bottom line," Duncan said. "We're going to have enough opportunities coming up soon."

Duncan used to be a shoo-in among All-Star starters like those announced Thursday, but his streak of selections is in doubt this time. He's averaging nearly 14 points and 7.5 rebounds, but the main concern for Popovich is keeping Duncan healthy now and not run him down before the end of the season.

The upside is that the Spurs should get Manu Ginobili back on their trip. Ginobili broke his hand Jan. 2 but the Spurs have persevered without their go-to scorer, going 12-7 so far and staying atop the Southwest Division.

Carldell Johnson scored 11 points and was the only other Hornets player in double figures.

Like the Spurs, the Hornets were also playing for the second time in two nights after losing at home to Phoenix. Hornets coach Monty Williams shrugged before the game at the effect of defeat after defeat.

"We've had so many losses, they all sting," Williams said.

NOTES: Parker needs 7 assists to surpass Avery Johnson for the franchise record. Parker has 4,468 career assists, all with the San Antonio. ...Duncan needs 19 rebounds to surpass Charles Oakley and become among the NBA's top 20 rebounders of all time.

Notebook: Spurs 93, Hornets 81

By Tim Price, for NBA.com
Posted Friday February 3, 2012 12:02AM

THE FACTS: The aging Spurs thrust their aging duo of Tim Duncan and Tony Parker out there again for the fourth game in five nights, and the quarter century of NBA experience combined for 37 points on 14-of-23 shooting, 14 rebounds and eight assists to lead San Antonio to another home court victory, 93-81 over the New Orleans Hornets on Thursday at AT&T Center. Duncan had 19 points on 6-of-8 shooting while Parker was 8-of-15 for 18 points and eight assists.

San Antonio (15-9 overall, a league-best 12-1 at home) also got 16 points from 2009 first-round selection Tiago Splitter. New Orleans (4-19) was led by Carl Landry's 17 points off the bench. Greivis Vasquez started at point guard because Jarrett Jack was bothered by a sore knee, and Vasquez hit half his shots for 16 points with five assists.

It was the second game of back-to-backs for both teams, though the Spurs had both games at home.

QUOTABLE: "We had a hard time making baskets in the first half. We had some wide-open shots. Timmy [Duncan] got it going. He was being very aggressive when they were double teaming him. And then Tiago [Splitter] was huge in the fourth quarter. I was finding him on the pick and roll, so it worked out pretty good for us in the fourth quarter."
-- Tony Parker

THE STAT: In the last two games the Hornets have scored at least 20 points in every quarter -- except the fourth quarter in each of those games. They were outscored 32-16 last night while losing to Phoenix and the Spurs outscored them 22-13. San Antonio shot 64 percent in the fourth and limited the Hornets to 28 percent.

TURNING POINT: There were 14 lead changes and 15 ties when San Antonio clung to a three-point lead to start the fourth. But less than two minutes into the quarter the Spurs forced a 24-second violation and, after Vasquez re-entered the game, the Hornets were forced into a twisting shot by Vasquez with just a second left on the shot clock. It was part of an 11-2 run the Spurs put together to start the fourth.

QUOTABLE II: "We've got to take this like a man. I take responsibility because I was the point guard. The last five minutes I should have controlled the game, but there was a couple of possessions we just looked so desperate. When you're playing all-stars, you can't do that. It's a learning process, but I'm tired of learning. I don't want to learn no more. I'm tired of losing."
-- Greivis Vasquez, who started at point and played almost 34 minutes but had four less points and seven fewer assists than Wednesday when he came off the bench and played 28 minutes against Phoenix

HOT: Splitter hit 7-for-9 shots from the floor and now is shooting 68 percent in his last 11 games (50-for-74) compared to 53 percent (30-for-56) in his first 13 this season.

NOT: Trevor Ariza went 2-for-10 and only two of them were 3-point tries. He's 16-for-58 (28 percent) from the floor the past six games and has hit 15 percent of his 3-pointers in that span.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Duncan would normally sit when the Spurs are playing their fourth game in five nights, as they were Thursday. But he's played in all of them, including 22 ½ minutes against the Hornets, scoring in double figures in all of those four games (17.5 points per game). He also had nine rebounds Thursday.

ROOKIE WATCH: With Jack out and Vasquez starting at point, Carldell Johnson played 14 minutes at backup point guard and had five assists to one turnover, two steals and four points. Gustavo Ayon got a chance to guard Duncan and picked up four fouls in 16 minutes along with eight rebounds. Spurs first-round selection Kawhi Leonard (15th overall) was pulled from the starting lineup and played almost 12 minutes, taking just one shot and no other marks in the stat sheet. He started 13 games this season and had averaged 23 minutes.

NOTABLE: Parker is now six assists away from equaling Avery Johnson's franchise record of 4,475 career assists. ... The Hornets had a different starting lineup for the second-straight night with Vasquez at point guard. In the previous game Marco Belinelli came out of the starting lineup in favor of DaJuan Summers. ... The Spurs started 1-for-14 from the 3-point line and finished by hitting three of their last five.

UP NEXT: For the Hornets, Saturday @ Detroit, Monday vs. Sacramento, Wednesday vs. Chicago. For the Spurs, Saturday vs. Oklahoma City, Monday @ Memphis, Wednesday @ Philadelphia.

• Hornets: Gordon
• Spurs: Ford, Ginobili, Thomas

• Hornets: --
• Spurs: --

• Lead Changes: 14
• Times Tied: 15

• Arena: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
• Officials: #48 Scott Foster, #76 Steven Anderson, #65 Sean Wright
• Attendance: 18082
• Duration: 2:03