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Monday, Apr. 17 8:30pm ET
Admiral scores 12 of 27 in fourth quarter | |||||
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 GAME FLOW
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- The San Antonio Spurs faced a 12-point second-half deficit Monday night and had no Tim Duncan to help. David Robinson made the difference, scoring 12 of his team-high 27 points in the fourth quarter to rally the Spurs to a 100-93 victory over the Vancouver Grizzlies on Monday night. "I'm real proud of the team and proud of what they did," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "They dug down. I'm thrilled with this win." San Antonio played its third straight game without Duncan, who has a left knee injury. The Spurs are 4-3 this season without their All-Star forward. "We have a small margin of error with Tim out," said Robinson, who added 10 rebounds. "We have to take advantage of our strengths. We knew this game was not going to be easy. We picked it up in the third quarter and had spacing in our offense." The Spurs clinched at least the No. 5 playoff position in the Western Conference and moved within a half-game of Phoenix for the No. 4 slot. The Spurs have one regular season game remaining, at home Wednesday against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Suns play at home Tuesday against Houston, and at Golden State on Wednesday. "I need my old team to do me a favor and win that game," said Spurs guard Mario Elie, who used to play for Houston. "In the playoffs, though, it doesn't matter where you start. If we get home-court advantage, great. If we start on the road, then we start on the road." Avery Johnson scored a season-high 24 points, and Antonio Daniels added 12 for the Spurs, who trailed 74-62 with 3:31 left in the third quarter. Vancouver, loser of seven straight games, was led by Michael Dickerson with 29 points. Shareef Abdur-Rahim had 27. "This was our game to win tonight," Vancouver coach Lionel Hollins said. "I think we lost our poise a little bit when they made their run. I just want to cry for these guys because they gave themselves the chance to win this one and really played their hearts out. They left it all out on the court tonight." Trailing 83-74 early in the fourth quarter, San Antonio rallied with a 15-2 run to take an 89-85 lead on a Daniels 3-pointer with 5:19 remaining. Vancouver went back up 91-90 on Dickerson's jump shot with 3:34 to play. San Antonio, which has won five of six games, then took the lead for good on consecutive baskets by Robinson and Daniels, the latter on a driving layup which gave the Spurs a 94-91 edge with 2:51 remaining. Held to only two points in the first half, Abdur-Rahim exploded for 19 of Vancouver's first 21 points in the third quarter as the Grizzlies grabbed that 74-62 lead in the third quarter. Behind 10 points by Johnson, San Antonio closed the first quarter with an 11-4 run to lead 28-25 after one. Dickerson had 21 first half points, on 7-of-10 shooting, as Vancouver took a 53-50 halftime lead. Game notesSan Antonio is 30-10 at home. ... The Spurs swept the four-game season series from Vancouver and have won 16 of 19 games between the franchises. ... Vancouver is 3-22 since Feb. 26. ... Vancouver point guard Mike Bibby added to his club season assist record with seven against San Antonio. He has 657 this season. | ALSO SEE NBA Scoreboard Vancouver Clubhouse San Antonio Clubhouse RECAPS Milwaukee 85 Orlando 83
San Antonio 100
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