Spurs-Raptors Preview

By TAYLOR BECHTOLD
Posted Nov 25 2012 12:49AM

Tony Parker has put in some extra shooting practice lately, and the San Antonio Spurs are reaping the benefits.

The All-Star point guard will try to continue his recent scoring surge on Sunday when the NBA's best road team takes on the struggling Toronto Raptors.

Slowing Parker has become a daunting task for the Raptors (3-10) after he totaled 59 points and a 67.5 shooting percentage in San Antonio's two wins to open a six-game road swing.

Parker finished with a season-high 33 points and 10 assists on Friday night to help the Spurs (10-3) rally from a 17-point deficit to beat Indiana 104-97.

He ended up making 15 of 23 from the field after going 12 of 17 in a 26-point effort at Boston on Wednesday. Parker had averaged just 11.1 points on 37.9 percent shooting over his previous seven games.

"(Coach Gregg Popovich) wanted me to be more aggressive, take more shots, and so I've been working with Chip (assistant coach Engelland), and the last two games, it's been working well for me," he said.

Parker also looks to continue his success against Toronto, averaging 17.1 points in 19 career games. He put together a 34-point, 14-assist performance in the last meeting on Feb. 15, 2012, a 113-106 Spurs victory.

Tim Duncan is also playing some of his best ball of season, averaging 20.7 points and 15.3 rebounds over the last three games. He had 22 points and 17 boards on Friday for his third straight double-double.

The Spurs improved to 6-1 on the road as they outscored the Pacers 48-36 in the paint and are 9-1 when scoring at least 38 in such fashion. San Antonio ranks near the top of the Western Conference in that category with 43.8 per game.

The Spurs, though, are expected to be without injured starting forward Kawhi Leonard for the remainder of the trip. He has missed the last four games with tendinitis in his right knee, and Stephen Jackson is also out with a fractured pinkie on his right hand.

After dropping its third straight on the road in a 91-90 loss to Detroit, Toronto failed to reach 100 points for the sixth straight game on Friday.

"It's really hard to look at the positive side of this situation," said forward Andrea Bargnani, who had a season-high 34 points to go with five rebounds and four assists.

The former first overall pick is averaging 27.0 points on 55.2 percent shooting over the last three games.

"My shot is falling," he said. "I don't panic. Sometimes you score, sometimes you don't. You just have to be aggressive."

In his third game back from an ankle injury that cost him six games, point guard Kyle Lowry finished with 19 points, giving him 40 in his last two games.

DeMar DeRozan, though, had his worst performance of the season with five points on 2 of 9 shooting. The fourth-year guard will try to bounce back versus the Spurs, against whom he's averaging 27.3 points in the last three meetings.

"We have find a way to get DeMar involved when they're paying special attention to him," coach Dwane Casey said.

Starting center Jonas Valanciunas is expected to play after injuring his left leg in the third quarter against the Pistons.

San Antonio has won three straight over the Raptors after sweeping the series last season.

Parker scores 32 as Spurs beat Raptors 111-106

By IAN HARRISON
Posted Nov 25 2012 5:15PM

TORONTO (AP) Tony Parker called it was a game that "could have gone either way." But with a perfect performance in the second overtime, Parker made sure his San Antonio Spurs came out on top.

Parker scored six of his 32 points in the second OT, Tim Duncan had 26 and the Spurs beat Toronto 111-106 Sunday, their fourth straight victory over the Raptors.

Duncan said no one was more vital to San Antonio's win than Parker, who made all three shots he took in the second overtime and topped 30 points for the second straight game.

"He's our closer and he has been that way for the last couple of years," Duncan said. "He steps up and makes big shots for us. That's what we ask him to do and he's delivered for us."

Manu Ginobili scored 15 points, Danny Green had 13 and Boris Diaw 11 as the Spurs won their third straight and improved their NBA-best road record to 7-1.

"We take pride in winning on the road," Ginobili said.

Parker made jump shots on consecutive possessions with less than 1 minute, 15 seconds to go in the second overtime as the Spurs held on.

"We had to work hard for this one," Parker said.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich agreed, not that he was happy about it.

"In a lot of ways, (Toronto) played better than we did," Popovich said. "They destroyed us on the boards. For most of the meat of the game they just threw it up there, missed it and they'd go get it again. That kept them in the ballgame. We did a better job in the overtimes defensively and on the boards, and that got us over the hump."

DeMar DeRozan led Toronto with 29 points, while rookie Jonas Valanciunas had 22. Kyle Lowry scored 20 points and Ed Davis had 15 points and 14 rebounds for the Raptors, who have lost their past three games by a combined seven points.

Toronto's Andrea Bargnani had a disappointing game, scoring four points and making just two of 19 field goal attempts.

"Today was definitely a very bad night," Bargnani said. "Maybe the worst."

Raptors coach Dwane Casey dismissed suggestions that he should have benched Bargnani, the first overall pick in the 2006 draft.

"I've got to go with Andrea," Casey said. "He's our guy."

Valanciunas calmly made free throws to tie the score at 88 with 24 seconds left in regulation. San Antonio gave the ball to Parker, who let the clock run down to six seconds, but almost turned it over as he drove. Parker's 3-point effort fell short, giving Toronto one-10th of a second to try for the winning basket, but Bargnani's no-look shot went wide, sending the game to overtime.

San Antonio led 92-90 on Duncan's dunk with less than 30 seconds to go in the first overtime when a foul by Parker gave possession to the Raptors. But Parker stole Jose Calderon's inbounds pass and raced in for a layup, giving the Spurs an 94-90 lead with 24 seconds left.

"I saw that Calderon was going to lob it and so I felt that with my speed I could sneak in there and get it," Parker said. "I just tried to make a play and it worked out for me."

Lowry answered with a 3 for the Raptors, cutting the gap to one, but Ginobili made a pair of free throws with 15 seconds left, making it 96-93.

DeRozan's dunk cut it to one with 14 seconds left and, after Gary Neal made one of two from the line, the Raptors called timeout, trailing 97-95. DeRozan grabbed his own rebound and made a layup with 0.9 left, tying it at 97. The Spurs couldn't get a shot off before the buzzer, forcing a second overtime.

Toronto never led in the second extra session, with Green's 3 with 4:43 to go giving the Spurs the lead for good.

"It's tough that we couldn't close it out at the end," Davis said. "We were fighting hard the whole game."

Toronto opened the third with a 7-0 run, thanks in part to seven straight missed shots by San Antonio. Toronto led 60-51 with 7:29 left but the Spurs erased the deficit thanks to eight points from Ginobili. DeRozan made a driving shot with 27 seconds left and scored 12 points in the third as the Raptors took a 70-69 edge into the fourth.

NOTES: DeRozan accidentally kicked Duncan in the throat midway through the first quarter, forcing the Spurs to call timeout. Duncan remained in the game. ... San Antonio was without swingman Kawhi Leonard (left knee) for the fifth straight game, while swingman Stephen Jackson (right hand) missed his third straight. ... San Antonio's six-game trip continues Monday night at winless Washington. This was the first of four games in five nights for the Spurs, who visit Orlando on Wednesday and Miami on Thursday. ... Toronto scored more than 100 points for the first time in seven games. ... When Parker and Diaw caught Davis eavesdropping on their conversation about a play in the second quarter, they switched to French. "He was kind of mad," Parker said. "He was like `Stop it."'

Notebook: Spurs 111, Raptors 106

Duane Watson, for NBA.com
Posted Sun Nov 25, 2012 5:36 PM - Updated Sun Nov 25, 2012 5:36 PM

THE FACTS: The San Antonio Spurs (11-3) visited the Toronto Raptors (3-11) at The Air Canada Centre on Sunday looking for their third consecutive road win. It only took the Spurs four quarters and two overtimes to defeat the Raptors 111-106. Tony Parker led his team with a game-high 32 points as the Spurs moved to 7-1 on the road this season. Tim Duncan added 26 points and a team-high six assists, while Boris Diaw chipped in 15 points and seven rebounds off the bench.

With the game tied at halftime and the Raptors taking only a 1-point lead into the fourth quarter, it was clear this was going to be a close game. Both teams executed and Toronto was more active on the offensive glass, but they couldn't put the ball in the basket in the second overtime, shooting 3-for-11, while the Spurs went 5-for-9 from the floor.

DeMar DeRozan's 29 points led the Raptors, rookie Jonas Valanciunas scored a career-high 22 points and Kyle Lowry added 20 with 8 rebounds. Andrea Bargnani shot 2-for-19 from the field for the Raptors.

The Spurs are now 7-1 on the road and 4-0 on their current 6-game road trip. The Raptors fall to 2-4 at home after returning from a three game home trip where they went 0-3.

QUOTABLE: "It could've gone either way, we had to work for this one. In the second overtime it was close and they were switching the pick and rolls and I was just trying to get a rhythm and try to be aggressive on Bargnani." -- Spurs Guard Parker

THE STAT: Second chance points were in the Raptors favor 25-11, which is what kept them in the game. Their effort and hustle had them outrebounding the Spurs on the offensive glass 17-7. They did enough to keep themselves in the game, but not enough to win.

TURNING POINT: Parker's pair of jumpers down the stretch with a little over a minute to go iced the game. Toronto never led in the second overtime and were constantly playing catch up, but inevitably didn't getting outscored 14-9 in the final frame.

QUOTABLE II: "He's our closer, he's been that way for the last couple of years and he steps up and makes big shots for us." -- Spurs forward Duncan on Parker.

HOT: Ed Davis came off the bench for the Raptors in the first half with 10 points and 7 rebounds, four of which were on the offensive end. He finished the game with a double-double netting a season-high 14 points and 13 rebounds, his eight offensive boards were a career high.

NOT: Despite a breakout game on Friday with a season-high 34 points, Bargnani continues to shoot poorly from the field at 41 per cent this season. Today he shot 2-for-19 from the field for four points.

GOOD MOVE: At the start of the second half Raptors coach Dwane Casey switched Valanciunas off of Duncan with Bargnani. However, with 31.9 seconds left in the game the rookie had Duncan posting him on the block. Valanciunas blocked Duncan's hook shot and stole the ball, raced down the floor and was fouled by Manu Ginobili, knocking down both free throws, tying the game 88-88.

BAD MOVE: Down two points with 29.1 seconds left in the first overtime, Jose Calderon turned an in-bounds pass to Lowry over at half court to Parker who streaked down the floor for an open court lay-up, putting the Spurs up 94-90.

NOTABLE: the Raptors are now 2-8 this season when they were either ahead or behind by five points or less with under five minutes left in remaining. San Antonio now has won four straight over the Raptors, including sweeping the series last season. The Spurs are without starting forward Kawhi Leonard, (tendinitis, right knee) and Stephen Jackson, (fractured pinkie, right hand). The Raptors have forwards Landry Fields, (right elbow) and Alan Anderson (left foot) on the injured list.

UP NEXT: For the Raptors; Tuesday @ Houston, Wednesday @ Memphis, Friday vs. Phoenix. For the Spurs; Monday @ Washington, Wednesday @ Orlando and Thursday @ Miami.

• Spurs: Jackson, Leonard
• Raptors: Anderson, Fields

• Spurs: --
• Raptors: --

• Lead Changes: 13
• Times Tied: 16

• Arena: Air Canada Centre, Toronto, ON
• Officials: #20 Leroy Richardson, #9 Derrick Stafford, #63 Derek Richardson
• Attendance: 19800
• Duration: 2:45