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Saturday, Jan. 22 6:00pm ET
Spurs outscore N.Y. 25-11 in 3rd quarter | |||||
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 GAME FLOW
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- The New York Knicks were looking for a little revenge. The San Antonio Spurs just wanted to prove to themselves that they can still play championship-caliber basketball. The Spurs got a good indication they can Saturday night with a 96-83 victory in the first matchup between the teams since last season's NBA Finals.
Tim Duncan had 33 points and 15 rebounds and Terry Porter added 18 points and 11 boards in his first start of the season in front of 34,429 at the Alamodome, the Spurs' largest home crowd of the season. "It's a little early, but it's great to have a game like this," Duncan said. "This is the kind of game that can really start something. We played four good quarters for the first time in a long time. We were just aggressive with the ball, even if we didn't hit every shot." The Spurs, who beat the Knicks four games-to-one in last season's Finals, outscored the Knicks 25-11 in the decisive third quarter. After leading 52-48 at the start of the period, the Spurs used a 17-9 run to open a 69-57 lead. Porter and Mario Elie each hit 3-pointers before Duncan converted a three-point play. Duncan, who scored just nine points in a loss to Portland three days earlier, had 11 points in the third. The Knicks, who tied their season-low for points in a quarter, never again got their deficit below 10. Larry Johnson's 3-pointer pulled New York to 89-78 with 3:05 to play before Porter answered with a 3 on the other end. "He (Porter) takes big shots for us and makes big shots," Duncan said. "I don't feel tired," a smiling Porter said after playing 38 minutes, well above his season average of 21. "That was a big game for us." Porter learned at Friday's shootaround he would start. "He's a seasoned veteran. We don't want him playing too many minutes," said Spurs coach Greg Popovich, who added Porter will stay in the starting lineup. "We're going to stick with this and see what happens," Popovich said. Allan Houston led the Knicks with 17 points and Chris Childs added 16 off the bench. Patrick Ewing, who did not play in the 1999 championship series because of an Achilles tendon injury, played 31 minutes and finished with 12 points -- none in the second half -- and eight rebounds. The Spurs outrebounded New York 50-37 and held the Knicks to 42 percent shooting. Latrell Sprewell, averaging 18.8 points this season, had just 10 on 4-of-10 shooting. "They played good defensively and we struggled at times on offense. They did a good job taking us out of the things we wanted to do," Sprewell said. San Antonio also held a huge advantage from the foul line, hitting 24 of 32 while the Knicks were just 5-of-8. Duncan was 15-of-18 from the line. "I was just trying to be patient with my shots. I got to foul line a lot early to get myself going," Duncan said. "It's hard when (Duncan) is getting a lot of ticky-tack fouls," Sprewell said. "But you just have to play through that and we didn't." The game was much closer before halftime as the teams exchanged leads 17 times. The Knicks held the largest lead of the first half at 38-33 after Marcus Camby's dunk sparked a 6-0 run by New York. The Spurs then reeled off a 12-4 run to regain the lead at 45-42 with 3:32 left in the half. Duncan scored seven points in the spurt with a pair of free throws and a short jumper before converting a three-point play. Duncan was 11-of-13 from line in the first two quarters. The Knicks were whistled for three technical fouls in the first half. "This was a continuation of the playoffs," said Popovich. "Both teams went after each other. It was nice to see us get some consistency back." Game notesSan Antonio plays at New York on March 12. ... Ewing needs 24 points to reach 23,000 for his career. He would be the 17th player in league history to reach the mark ... Duncan has scored in double figures 165 times in 173 career games ... Spurs forward Sean Elliott, who received a kidney transplant in August, was cleared by doctors this week to return to the team. Team officials, however, said they will evaluate this week when Elliott might return to the court. Elliott has been working as a color commentator for Spurs telecasts. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard New York Clubhouse San Antonio Clubhouse RECAPS New Jersey 98 Dallas 95
San Antonio 96
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