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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME FLOW
SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- The Cleveland Cavaliers thought they had seen
the last of Danny Ferry.
They ran into him again Wednesday night, and Ferry helped the
San Antonio Spurs halt Cleveland's six-game winning streak.
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| Ferry |
Ferry, who had spent the last 10 years in Cleveland, scored 16
points against his former team in San Antonio's 94-77 victory.
"Anyone who tells you that playing against your old team is not
a big game is lying," Ferry said after scoring his season-high on
6-for-12 shooting. "I had a great time in Cleveland, and I had a
great time playing against them."
Tim Duncan backed Ferry with 14 points and 12 rebounds, while
Derek Anderson added 13 points for the Spurs. Led by Ferry, San
Antonio's reserves contributed 43 points.
"The more people see Danny Ferry play, the more they see he
understands the game and knows how to play the game," San Antonio
coach Gregg Popovich said of his his offseason free agent signee.
"He's been doing it for a long time."
Cleveland was led by Chris Gatling with 18 points, while Andre
Miller and Lamond Murray chipped in 14 apiece.
After trailing by 15 points at halftime, Cleveland went on a
21-6 run to open the third quarter and tied the game at 61-61 on
Matt Harpring's free throw with 3:23 to play in the third quarter.
San Antonio regrouped behind six points from Anderson and closed
the quarter with a 14-4 run to lead 75-65.
The Spurs continued shooting well at the start of the fourth
quarter, outscoring Cleveland 13-2 and taking an 83-67 lead on
Steve Kerr's 3-point field goal with 9:29 to play.
Cleveland, which allowed San Antonio to grab a season-high 17
offensive rebounds, trailed by as many as 19 points in the final
quarter and could get no closer than 12 the rest of the way.
"This was one of our better performances of the season,"
Popovich said. "We executed well on both ends of the court and it
was a good team effort against a good team. I'm pleased with the
win."
Leading 24-19 after the first quarter, San Antonio stretched its
advantage to as many as 17 points in the second quarter as Antonio
Daniels capped an 8-0 run with a 3-point field goal to make it
52-35 with 2:02 left in the quarter.
Relying on a swarming defense, San Antonio forced five Cleveland
turnovers in the second quarter that led to 11 points as the Spurs
led 55-40 at halftime.
"Danny Ferry is a good fit for this team," Cleveland coach
Randy Wittman said. "We knew he would come out aggressive. He
wanted to play well against us. He got good looks at the basket and
he is a spot-up shooter who is very dangerous when that happens.
It's good to see him playing well even if it is against us."
David Robinson had six of San Antonio's 11 blocked shots against
the Cavaliers.
"David was great against (Zydrunas) Ilgauskas," Duncan said.
"He blocked a few shots early and they really became aware of his
presence. I think they had to change some shots because of him."
San Antonio now leads the all-time series with Cleveland by a 38-20 count, with the Cavaliers' last victory in San Antonio coming
in 1988.
"We came out and didn't play with a lot of energy," Miller
said. "They came out and went right after us. We made a good run
in the third quarter but just couldn't sustain the effort."
Game notes
With his double-double against the Cavaliers, Duncan now
has 174 in 231 regular-season games during his career, the most of
any NBA player over that time ... Cleveland is now 5-6 on the road
this season, a big turnaround for a team which went 10-31 away from
home last season.
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ALSO SEE
NBA Scoreboard
Cleveland Clubhouse
San Antonio Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 99
New Jersey 86
Toronto 99
Indiana 98
Charlotte 65
Miami 56
Dallas 106
Portland 101
Utah 91
Philadelphia 89
San Antonio 94
Cleveland 77
Denver 108
Detroit 106
Seattle 89
Sacramento 85
Vancouver 118
Washington 104
LA Clippers 103
Minnesota 96
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