Texas NBA Capsules: Mason's 3-pointer sparks Spurs

LOS ANGELES - With Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker sidelined, Tim Duncan figured to get the last shot in a tie game.

Wrong. Roger Mason got the call, and the 29-year-old journeyman came through.

Mason made a 3-pointer with 8.4 seconds remaining Monday night, lifting the San Antonio Spurs to an 86-83 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers for their third straight victory.

Mason, who scored 21 points, got away from Ricky Davis near the top of the key and had no trouble nailing his third 3-pointer of the game after the Clippers had rallied from an 11-point deficit in the final 6½ minutes.

"He was the guy, we wanted the ball in his hands to make the decision," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "He had the green light.

"We had a shot at the end, and they didn't."

Los Angeles did have a shot to tie it, but Baron Davis' 3-pointer as time expired didn't come close, and the Clippers were losers for the ninth time in 10 games.

"Coach just drew up a play for me," Mason said. "I felt good all game, I knew a lot of attention would be on Tim. I got an opportunity and I made the most of it. That's a shot I work on quite a bit. For me, it was just like practice."

Mason entered the NBA as a second-round draft pick with the Chicago Bulls six years ago. He joined the Spurs this summer after playing in Washington the past two seasons.

Duncan had 20 points, 15 rebounds and six blocked shots, and Michael Finley added 19 points for the short-handed Spurs, who have won nine straight and 17 of 18 over the Clippers.

The Spurs (5-5) played without star guards Ginobili and Parker, who averaged 38.3 points between them last season. Ginobili is still recovering from offseason ankle surgery, while Parker has missed five games after spraining his left ankle against Miami on Nov. 7, two days after scoring a career-high 55 points at Minnesota. San Antonio is 4-1 without Parker.

"Obviously we're short-handed, but we've found a way to win games," Duncan said. "It's on my shoulders a little bit more. There's going to be a learning curve with everybody."

Regarding Mason, Duncan said: "He's been great for us, he's gotten great results. When (Parker and Ginobili) come back, he's going to have an even bigger role. People will be paying more attention to them."

Cuttino Mobley led the Clippers with 18 points. Chris Kaman added 17 points, 13 rebounds and three blocked shots. Baron Davis had 11 points and eight assists, but shot just 5-of-17, including 0-of-8 from 3-point range.

"Most definitely we thought that we had a chance to get this game going in," Davis said. "With two of their top three players out, we felt that if we just came with the intensity and the focus to play, we would be able to pull it out. But what you saw over there was their machine and their system."

Davis said the Spurs did an excellent job defensively on the game's final play.

"Basically, we were trying to get like a misdirection and get me coming off the wing for a 3," he said. "But they read it right. And when I caught the ball, I had two guys on me and almost a second and a half to get a shot up with Tim Duncan- one of the best defensive players - standing in my face."

Finley scored five points and Duncan added four during a 9-2 run to start the fourth quarter, giving the Spurs a 77-66 lead, matching the largest of the game for either team.

It was 81-70 when a 3-pointer by Ricky Davis with 6:21 remaining ignited the Clippers' comeback, and two baskets by Kaman and a 3-pointer by Mobley tied it at 83 with 1:04 left. After a steal by Marcus Camby, Mobley had a chance to give Los Angeles the lead, but missed a 3-pointer with 30 seconds to play, setting the stage for Mason.

"We had some situations on turnovers that were careless turnovers, but the biggest factor to me was shot selection," Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy said. "We probably had 10 bad shots in this game. You can't give that many possessions away and expect to win.

"Until we get the discipline we need, as far as taking good shots and not making careless turnovers, we're going to struggle."

The Spurs shot 44 percent to the Clippers' 41 percent, but Los Angeles outrebounded San Antonio 47-36. The Spurs committed 16 turnovers, the Clippers 13.

Notes:@ The Clippers have played an NBA-high eight home games, winning one, and a league-low two road games. They begin a three-game trip Wednesday night at Oklahoma City. ... Popovich's 634 wins put him third on the list of most coaching wins with one team. He trails Utah's Jerry Sloan (1,002) and former Boston coach Red Auerbach (795). ... The Spurs have a 37-5 record against the Clippers since the 1997-98 season. ... Popovich said he believes Ginobili and Parker will both return sometime in December. ... The Clippers went 8-of-10 from the foul line and committed nine fouls while the Spurs were 6-of-6 from the foul line and committed 15 fouls. ... Camby had seven points, nine rebounds and six of his team's 13 blocked shots.

McGrady leaves Rockets win with injury

OKLAHOMA CITY - Tracy McGrady feels like he's back to square one with a troublesome left knee that gave out on him again. At least his Houston Rockets seem able to pick up the slack if he's going to be sidelined.

Luis Scola scored 23 points, Yao Ming added 19 points and 12 rebounds, and Houston made a second-half surge without its injured seven-time All-Star to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 100-89 on Monday night.

Offseason pickup Ron Artest also had an injury scare, but the Rockets still had enough firepower to hand the tumbling Thunder their eighth straight loss.

"We have depth. We have guys that we trust and guys that really can play. They went out there and we all played together, kept fighting hard and sustained a lead and came away with the victory," point guard Rafer Alston said.

McGrady left the game in the opening minute of the second half after aggravating his left knee, which was operated on this offseason to have loose bodies removed. He didn't return.

"Tonight I went back to square one, even before surgery, is how my knee is feeling right now," McGrady said.

The two-time NBA scoring champion came in averaging only 16.7 points and left after scoring eight points in the first half. Even without him, the Rockets were still able to mount a 14-3 run powered by Scola and Yao to start the second half.

Artest extended the lead to 77-58 when he stepped behind Kevin Durant's back to knock the ball away and set himself up for a right-handed dunk.

All McGrady could do was watch from the bench, where he draped a towel across his shoulders. He planned to have an MRI on Tuesday.

"I want to play, man. I want to play. Just to get off to this start, for me personally this is a bad start," McGrady said. "To have to play your way through an injury that I've never had before and a surgery that was my first surgery is very frustrating. My game is really based on athleticism, and that's something that I don't have right now."

Yao and Artest both thought they'd be OK after joining McGrady on the bench late in the game. Artest was hurt on a drive to the basket in the final minute, and he ended up clutching his right ankle in a group of photographers on the baseline.

He remained in the training room for a while after the game before limping heavily on his way to his locker.

"People sprain their ankles all the time," said Artest, who had 17 points and 11 rebounds. "It's not broke."

Yao left with 3:29 to play after a hook shot that gave Houston a 94-78 lead.

The injury song sounds all too familiar to Rockets faithful, who've watched Yao miss a year's worth of games over the last three seasons because of various injuries and McGrady get dinged up, too.

"We don't need all of them hurt. Sometimes teams with three players like that, you may deal with one maybe having an injury because injuries are part of the game," Alston said. "But to have three of them down We need these guys to be healthy."

The Rockets still were able to withstand a 14-3 run by Oklahoma City that closed the deficit to 82-74 on Russell Westbrook's basket inside with 10:42 to play. Yao started a six-point spurt with a hook shot in the lane, and the lead was back to 16 when he hit another one before leaving.

Durant had 29 points to lead the Thunder, Jeff Green scored 16 and Westbrook added 14 points. Oklahoma City has lost eight in a row for only the 10th time in franchise history. That includes an 0-8 start and a 14-game losing streak later last season in Seattle. They're now 1-10 this season.

"We just have to put two halves together. Tonight we played a great first half and not a very good second half," Green said.

McGrady said before the season that the knee was healing slower than he had hoped, and that it would likely be a month into the season before he was back at full speed. He was still about two weeks shy of that point when it failed him again.

"I've never had any relief because I've just been trying to work my way into playing shape and strengthen my leg. I've never been 100 percent," McGrady said. "I've just been trying to play, hoping that playing on it will take me over the edge and I don't have any more pain. It hasn't worked in my favor."

McGrady said he was told he'd be pulled right back out of the game if he was seen limping, and he didn't think he'd be able to play without doing that.

"It's sharp pain," McGrady said. "It almost just seems like I never had surgery. I'm feeling the same pain."

Yao was able to find a silver lining to all the injuries from the past few years.

"I have experience in this," Yao said. "I know how to take care of my body."

Notes: Oklahoma City F Desmond Mason missed the game with a sprained right elbow. Team doctors are expected to re-evaluate him in 10 days. ... Thunder coach P.J. Carlesimo said he considered Pete Newell, the former college and Olympic coach who died Monday at age 93 to be "a great friend and a great man." The two got to know each other through basketball camps decades ago and grew closer when Carlesimo coached the Golden State Warriors. ... Houston has won nine straight games in the series.

-- Jeff Latzke