Texas NBA Capsules: Parker scores 19 to lead San Antonio past Clippers

SAN ANTONIO - It was an off night for Tim Duncan, but a good one for the San Antonio Spurs.

Tony Parker scored 19 points and San Antonio beat the skidding Los Angeles Clippers 106-84 on Thursday, giving the Spurs their ninth win in the past 10 games despite getting only eight points from Duncan.

The Clippers have lost nine straight. They led by nine in the second quarter and by a point at halftime, but Los Angeles was outscored 31-15 by the Spurs in the fourth quarter and 63-40 in the second half.

"The defense got better as the game went on, and that fueled the offense," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, whose team scored 16 points in the first quarter.

The Spurs (24-11), winners of three consecutive games, have a 1½-game lead over second-place New Orleans in the Southwest Division.

Roger Mason added 18 points for the Spurs. Michael Finley had 15 and Manu Ginobili 13 off the bench. Matt Bonner scored 11.

Though Duncan fell short of double figures in points and rebounds (four), he led the Spurs with nine assists in 32 minutes.

The Clippers (8-27) got 21 points each from Eric Gordon and Al Thornton. Mardy Collins added 16.

San Antonio led by as many as 24 in the fourth quarter.

"In the second half, they hit everything they shot," Gordon said. "We have to change the way we play our game, like playing better on defense."

The injury-ridden Clippers are without Baron Davis, Chris Kaman and Zach Randolph. The lack of manpower showed in the second half.

"Playing short-handed means you have to leave some guys out there for some long minutes, and I did that with quite a few guys," Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. "I pulled the plug with about five minutes left."

Collins played 43 minutes, Thornton 42 and Gordon almost 40.

The Spurs broke open a close game by scoring the first 10 points of the second half. The surge was led by 3-pointers from Bonner and Finley, and it erased Los Angeles' one-point halftime lead and made it a 53-44 advantage for the Spurs after three minutes of the third quarter.

Finley went 4-of-6, including 3-of-3 from 3-point territory, for 11 points in the quarter. Bonner was 4-of-4 for nine points as the Spurs led by as many as 12 in the third.

"We started hitting shots," Mason said. "But the thing we wanted to continue to do was play defense, and I think our defense got better as the game went on."

The Clippers trailed 75-69 after the third despite shooting 53 percent from the floor. But they dipped to 4-of-20 shooting in the fourth quarter.

The Spurs have won the first two meetings between the teams this season.

The Clippers expanded an early two-point lead to six when the Spurs missed their final eight shots of the first quarter. San Antonio went 6-of-23 from the floor (26 percent) in the first quarter while Los Angeles shot 50 percent.

Most of San Antonio's shooting woes were from long range. The Spurs, No. 1 in 3-point shooting in the NBA, were 2-of-9 from the 3-point line in the first quarter and 5-of-17 at halftime.

They finished the game 11-of-29, hitting 6-of-12 in the second half.

Los Angeles led 22-16 heading into the second quarter when Collins found the basket from 14 feet. Collins scored eight first-quarter points after making 4-of-6.

The Clippers went up by nine on Brian Skinner's follow of Gordon's miss four minutes into the second quarter. It was their largest lead of the game.

But the Spurs cut the lead to 42-41 on a 15-footer by Parker with 1:25 left in the second quarter before the Clippers ended the first half with a 44-43 lead. Parker had 13 points in the first half, but so did Thornton. He led the Clippers with 6-of-8 shooting to go along with Collins' 5-of-7 showing from the floor.

Notes: Fred Jones, waived three days ago by the Clippers and reacquired by Los Angeles on a 10-day contract Thursday, was the first player off the bench for Los Angeles. He ended the game with 11 points in 33 minutes. ... Veteran Spurs G Jacque Vaughn was on the active list after spending the last three games in street clothes. He checked into the game with five minutes left, marking the first time he's played since Dec. 22. ... The Clippers have lost all 11 trips to the AT&T Center since it opened in 2002.

Kidd, Mavericks hold on late to beat Knicks

DALLAS - With Dirk Nowitzki not feeling his best, Jason Kidd did something Thursday night that he prefers to leave to others.

The pass-first point guard elected to shoot the basketball.

Kidd made two big baskets in the fourth quarter, and the Dallas Mavericks overcame a subpar game from an ill Nowitzki to beat the New York Knicks 99-94.

"You have to erase your floppy disc and become a shooter," said Kidd, who had 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists. "I had some great looks that didn't go in, but guys kept telling me to keep shooting."

Nowitzki, the NBA's fourth-leading scorer, was 3-of-13 from the floor and scored 10 points, just two more than his season low.

Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said after the game Nowitzki played with a temperature of 101 degrees. The Dallas star shrugged it off, saying he had a "head cold," and that his performance had more to do with the Knicks throwing constant double teams at him.

Nowitzki missed his final seven shots.

"When it was winning time, I didn't have a great rhythm shooting the ball," Nowitzki said. "I was able to get some assists when they double-teamed me."

One of Nowitzki's seven assists gave Dallas the lead for good. He found Kidd open for a 24-foot jumper that put the Mavericks on top 87-86 with 5:44 left.

Kidd, who was 6-of-15 shooting, nailed a 3-pointer with 4:11 remaining to put the Mavericks up 93-89.

The Mavericks' point guard hadn't taken that many shots since Dec. 9, a double overtime loss to San Antonio.

"(Kidd) made a couple tough shots there," Nowitzki said. "They basically left him alone all night. He knocked some shots down for us."

The Mavericks have beaten the Knicks nine straight times in Dallas. New York hasn't won on the Mavericks' home court since a 100-93 victory on Dec. 16, 1999, back when Dallas played a couple of miles down the road in Reunion Arena.

Knicks center Eddy Curry, who missed the first 33 games with a knee injury, saw his first action of the season. He entered with 2:42 left in the first quarter and scored on a layup just more than a minute later.

That's was Curry's only shot attempt in 2½ minutes of action. He also grabbed two rebounds.

Chris Duhon hit his first nine shots and scored 24 points, and Wilson Chandler added 20 for the Knicks, who have lost two in a row since beating defending champion Boston on Sunday.

New York's David Lee had 13 points and 15 rebounds - his seventh consecutive double-double. Duhon finished 10-of-14 from the field.

"What makes it frustrating is we're playing some pretty good basketball against some of the best teams in the NBA," Lee said. "To come up short, that's frustrating."

Josh Howard led six Dallas players in double figures with 19 points. Antoine Wright had 13 points, Brandon Bass added 12 and Jason Terry 10.

Dallas has won five of six, all against losing teams. But the Mavericks had to rally from 29 down to beat Minnesota last week, lost to Memphis on Sunday, and needed a late surge to beat the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday.

"I hear a lot of people talk about how it would be nice to have some easy games," Carlisle said. "I don't look at it that way. This is the most competitive year from top to bottom I've seen."

Al Harrington converted a three-point play to cut Dallas' lead to 95-94. The Knicks had a chance to take the lead on their next three possessions, but failed on those chances.

Nowitzki hit two free throws to put Dallas ahead by three, and Terry sealed it by hitting a long jumper with 9 seconds left.

The Knicks (6-of-24) shot 25 percent in the fourth. Over the last 2:18, they missed all six of their shots.

"They're playing about as hard as they can play and giving ourselves a chance to win," coach Mike D'Antoni said. "We just haven't done it yet."

Duhon, 9-of-9 from the floor in the first half, had 22 points as the Knicks led 59-54 at halftime.

The point guard capped his perfect half with a layup and his fourth 3-pointer of the game to give New York an eight-point edge just before halftime.

Duhon's first miss came when Erick Dampier blocked his layup attempt with 8:40 left in the third.

Notes: Knicks G Nate Robinson, 1-for-9 from 3-point range Thursday, is 3-of-30 from long distance in his past five games. ... The Mavericks have won 12 of their last 14 home games. ... D'Antoni received a technical for arguing a foul call with 10:56 left.

-- David Jimenez