Spurs-Bucks Preview

By NOEY KUPCHAN
Posted Jan 01 2013 9:59PM

Coming off another stifling defensive display, the San Antonio Spurs carry plenty of momentum into the new year.

The Spurs try to extend their season-high winning streak to seven Wednesday night as they open a two-game trek against the Milwaukee Bucks.

One night after cruising to a 111-86 win at Dallas, San Antonio (25-8) blew out Brooklyn 104-73 on New Year's Eve. Tony Parker scored 20 points to lead six players in double figures for the Spurs, who outscored the Nets 30-5 in the third quarter and allowed their fewest total points all season.

"We played great defense in the third quarter," Parker said. "We tried to make an effort defensively and coach (Gregg) Popovich has been talking a lot about that and it has been a huge improvement for us the last two games. Defense has been great and we are on the right track and we just have to keep it going."

Limiting foes to an average of 90.0 points during its run, San Antonio took advantage of an opportunity to rest most of its players Monday. Nobody played more than 26 minutes for a Spurs team in the midst of four games in five days.

"It was very important for us, especially since we have a long trip (Tuesday)," Manu Ginobili said. "We are going through a tough stretch but it is great to have a chance to sit most of the fourth."

The offense has also stepped up in the last six games, averaging 110.8 points on 53.7 percent shooting and 46.8 from 3-point range.

San Antonio has taken five of six from the Bucks (16-13) - including a 110-99 home win Dec. 5 behind 22 points apiece from Parker and Gary Neal. The Spurs, who visit New York on Thursday, have dropped four of seven at the Bradley Center, however, falling 106-103 during their last trip Jan. 10.

"It's gonna be two very tough games on the road," Parker said. "Milwaukee's playing well at home and New York, obviously, they're playing great at home. So it's gonna be two great tests for us and hopefully we don't party too hard (Monday night) and be ready for Milwaukee."

The Bucks finished December with a 6-2 home record after handily beating Brooklyn 108-93 last Wednesday and defending champion Miami 104-85 on Saturday. Milwaukee, though, came up short 96-94 at Detroit on Sunday in its final game of 2012.

Monta Ellis had 30 points and Ersan Ilyasova posted a season-high 24 off the bench, but Brandon Jennings was limited to nine - 8.6 fewer than his average - on 3-of-12 shooting. The Bucks were outscored 60-38 in the paint and outrebounded 47-33.

"It was more than a bad start, it was a bad 3 1/2 quarters," said coach Scott Skiles, whose team fell behind 13-0 to start the game. "They outplayed us except for maybe six to eight minutes the whole game."

The Bucks will likely need Jennings to come out with a more efficient effort if they hope to keep up Wednesday. Milwaukee is 3-10 when Jennings shoots under 36.1 percent compared to 13-3 when he tops that mark.

Jennings missed 10 of 15 shots and finished with 14 points against San Antonio last month. He's averaging 12.6 points - his second-lowest mark against any team - and shooting 33.3 percent in five matchups in this series.

While the Bucks are relatively healthy, the Spurs could be without Neal for a fifth straight game due to a strained right calf.

Stephen Jackson, who opened last season with Milwaukee before ultimately landing in San Antonio, has yet to face his former team. He missed the December game with a fractured right pinkie.

Spurs beat Bucks for seventh straight victory

By RICH ROVITO
Posted Jan 03 2013 12:24AM

MILWAUKEE (AP) After a 69-point outburst in the first half, it would have been easy for the San Antonio Spurs to believe they were going to capture their seventh consecutive win with little resistance.

Instead, the Spurs had to withstand a pair of second half rallies from the Milwaukee Bucks to hang on for a 117-110 victory Wednesday night.

"We knew they were going to make a run at some point," said San Antonio forward Tim Duncan, who had 28 points, 13 rebounds and six assists. "They made a run there at the end. They are very good in this building and we knew that. They've come back on a lot of people here."

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said he, too, expected the Bucks to make a run, even though the Spurs jumped out to a 17-point halftime edge.

"They never die. That's one thing about these guys," Popovich said. "They've done it to a lot of teams. They did it again tonight. They put their heads down and started driving and they got themselves back into the game."

The Bucks used a 13-3 run over the last 2:57 of the third quarter to cut San Antonio's lead to 93-81. The Bucks eventually cut the lead to 94-85 early in the fourth quarter before Popovich reinserted his starters and the Spurs began to pull away again.

However, a 10-2 Bucks rally in the waning seconds of the game, which included a dunk by rookie John Henson, cut the Spurs' lead five points with 20 seconds remaining. A pair of free throws by Patty Mills with 12 seconds left sealed the victory for the Spurs.

"We were in a good groove but in the second half (Milwaukee) played hard," said Tony Parker, who added 23 points and 11 assists for the Spurs, who shot 52 percent from the field for the game. "They played with a lot of energy and came back on us. They played very physical."

Brandon Jennings paced Milwaukee with 31 points. Henson scored a career-high 20 points and added nine rebounds. Mike Dunleavy had 19 points.

Popovich said he had hoped San Antonio would have been able to maintain the wide margin it held prior to the Bucks' third-quarter rally so he could get his veteran players some much-needed rest in preparation for a Thursday night game in New York against the Knicks.

"I was hoping I could get some guys a little more rest but (Milwaukee) didn't allow that," Popovich said.

The Spurs were fined by NBA Commissioner David Stern earlier this season after Popovich sent Duncan, Parker, Manu Ginobili and Danny Green home for a national television game against the Miami Heat, which followed a game the previous night against the Orlando Magic.

Duncan, who played 34 minutes, said he wasn't concerned about rest.

"We were prepared to play it horn to horn," he said.

Despite having to fight off a challenge from the Bucks, San Antonio ran its record to 19-1 this season when leading after three quarters.

Duncan scored 12 points in the first quarter as the Spurs built a 33-22 lead while shooting 58.3 percent and outscoring the Bucks 11-0 on fast-break points.

Duncan opened the game by hitting three consecutive mid-range jump shots.

"As his career has gone on, he has become a much better jump shooter. He can beat you a lot of different ways," Dunleavy said.

The Spurs extended the advantage to 69-52 at halftime behind 20 points from Duncan. The 69 points were the most given up by the Bucks in a half this season, topping the 58 points allowed by the team in the second half against the Spurs in a 110-99 loss in San Antonio on Dec. 9.

Henson had 10 second-quarter points for the Bucks, who won six of eight games at home during December before running into the streaking Spurs in Milwaukee's first game of the new year.

Duncan had high praise for Henson's performance.

"He had a great game tonight. I honestly didn't know much about him but it looked like he had a great skill set out there," Duncan said.

Henson has "upped his work ethic" over the past month, Bucks coach Scott Skiles said.

"He deserved a look," Skiles said. "John is a skilled offensive player. He made some plays out there that stand out. He made some NBA plays. It was a good step forward for him against a good team."

The early deficit faced by the Bucks turned out to be too much to overcome in the end.

"Very few teams are just going to quit but you have to do a lot of things well to be in the game with that team and compete against that team," Skiles said.

Notes: The first-half output by San Antonio matched the 69 points the team scored in the opening two quarters against Houston on Dec. 28. The Spurs scored 73 second-half points against Charlotte on Dec. 8. ... Spurs guard Gary Neal returned to the lineup Wednesday after missing four consecutive games with a strained right calf. "He's a dangerous player. I'm really happy for him because he finally has an NBA career," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said of Neal, who played four seasons overseas before joining the Spurs in 2010. .Bucks guard Beno Udrih was inactive for the game after what Skiles described as a "flare-up" of an ankle injury that kept him out of 12 games earlier this season. Udrih, who didn't practice Tuesday, played 17 minutes but didn't score in Milwaukee's previous game against Detroit on Sunday. ...Duncan registered a blocked shot for the 20th consecutive game, the longest active streak in the NBA. Milwaukee forward Larry Sanders, whom Duncan was matched up against, blocked a shot for the 17th game in a row, tying him with Oklahoma City's Serge Ibaka for the second-longest active streak.

Notebook: Spurs 117, Bucks 110

Rick Braun, For NBA.com
Posted Wed Jan 02, 2013 11:46 PM - Updated Wed Jan 02, 2013 11:46 PM

THE FACTS: Tim Duncan scored 28 points and added 13 rebounds, and Tony Parker added 23 points and 11 assists as the San Antonio Spurs won their seventh straight game with a 117-110 decision over the Milwaukee Bucks Wednesday night at the BMO Harris Bradley Center.

The Spurs (26-8) led by as many as 23 in the third quarter and were never really in jeopardy, although the Bucks pulled within 115-110 in the final half-minute.

Brandon Jennings had 31 points and five assists for the Bucks (16-14), who have lost their last two.

QUOTABLE: "It's easy when we're playing like that. We make it look easy and it feels easy. But it isn't. It's execution and a dedication to moving the ball and staying on a string. A lot of hard work went into it."

-- Tim Duncan

THE STATS: The two teams were actually close in shooting percentage, and the Bucks won on the boards, 47-40. The difference in this game was the ball-handling numbers, where the Spurs won the assist game 32-24, and committed just eight turnovers to Milwaukee's 16.

TURNING POINT: Milwaukee cut a 23-point, third-quarter lead down to 94-83 in the first minute of the fourth when Spurs coach Gregg Popovich sent Duncan, Parker and Danny Green back in with 10:23 left. After a Jennings jumper closed it to single digits at 94-85, Parker fed Green for an open 3-pointer, Duncan fed Tiago Splitter for a lay-in and Parker drilled a 3-pointer and a 15-footer for a 10-0 run that pushed the lead to 104-85. The Spurs cruised the rest of the way.

QUOTABLE II: "We were lucky enough. We made the stops we needed and the shots we needed right away. That was very important because, against them, they keep playing and playing hard and they've come back on a lot of teams. But they didn't do it to us."

-- Tony Parker on how he and Duncan helped the Spurs put an immediate end to Milwaukee's rally

HOT: Bucks rookie John Henson wasn't taking deep shots but he still made 10 of his 11 attempts (90.9 percent) for a career-high 20 points. According to Stats LLC, that's the highest percentage in a game for a Bucks rookie (minimum 10 FGM) since at least 1986 when such statistics began to be kept. Yi Jianlian went 14-for-17 (82.4 percent) against Charlotte on Dec. 22, 2007, for the previous record.

NOT: Bucks guard Monta Ellis, the current Eastern Conference Player of the Week, made just 7 of his18 shots.

GOOD MOVE: He clearly would have preferred to keep Duncan and Parker on the bench for the entire fourth quarter, but when Milwaukee made a run, Popovich returned Duncan and Parker to action. "They've played together a long time," Popovich said of Parker and Duncan. "They know what we're looking for. Especially in the fourth quarter."

ROOKIE WATCH: Along with his career-high 20 points, Henson, the Bucks' first-round pick, added nine rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot.

NOTABLE: The Spurs have won their seven straight games by an average margin of 18.4 points. ... Duncan finished with three blocks, giving him 20 consecutive games with at least one block. Bucks center Larry Sanders had four blocks, extending his streak of games with a block to 17. ... Bucks guard Beno Udrih missed the game with a sore right ankle. Udrih had missed 12 games with a sprained right ankle before playing in the Bucks' previous three games. He said afterward that he jammed his foot during Sunday's 96-94 loss at Detroit.

UP NEXT: For the Spurs, Thursday @ New York, Saturday vs. Philadelphia, Monday @ New Orleans. For the Bucks, Friday vs. Houston, Saturday @ Indiana, Tuesday vs. Phoenix.

• Spurs: Joseph
• Bucks: Przybilla, Udrih

• Spurs: --
• Bucks: --

• Lead Changes: 3
• Times Tied: 1

• Arena: BMO Harris Bradley Center, Milwaukee, WI
• Officials: #28 Zach Zarba, #26 Pat Fraher, #70 Brent Barnaky
• Attendance: 15084
• Duration: 2:04