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San Antonio storms back to defeat Toronto

Feb 10, 2011 - 3:45 AM Toronto, ON (Sports Network) - DeJuan Blair scored 28 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and George Hill provided 18 points, six assists and five boards as San Antonio stormed back to topple Toronto, 111-100, at Air Canada Centre.

Tim Duncan supplied 16 points, seven boards and six assists while Tony Parker contributed 16 points and eight assists for the Spurs, who have won four in a row and seven of their last eight.

San Antonio's 44-8 start matches the 1964-64 Boston Celtics for the fourth- best after 52 games in league history.

Andrea Bargnani scored a game-high 29 points while DeMar DeRozan chipped in with 25 for the lowly Raptors, who have lost 15 of their last 16.

Leandro Barbosa came off the bench to provide 20 points and Amir Johnson added 12 points and 13 rebounds in defeat for the hosts, who have dropped 16 of their last 21 against San Antonio.

"We started missing our shots," Toronto guard Jose Calderon said of the team's fourth quarter struggles. "When you're playing the best team in the NBA, if you make mistakes, they will take advantage of it and they will beat you. When you're playing a tough team you have to do it for the full 48 minutes."

Leading by four at the break, the Spurs extended the margin to 70-62 inside of seven minutes left in the third quarter before the Raptors put together a 13-2 burst to move in front by three with 3 1/2 minutes to go in the period.

DeRozan hit a layup and 1-of-2 at the line in the final 30 seconds to give the hosts an 84-81 advantage heading into the final stanza.

After the teams traded buckets on their initial possession of the fourth quarter, the Spurs assumed control with a 22-4 run that built a 105-90 lead with 3:37 left in the game.

Back-to-back short hook shots by Blair put the visitors ahead to stay at 87-86 and his dunk prior to a Duncan jumper capped the decisive surge.

Toronto finally ended a nearly 4 1/2 minute scoring drought with a DeRozan layup but by that time it was too late to mount a comeback.

"I thought coach Triano had a great game plan and gave us all we could handle," said San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich. "He wore out our defense but it wasn't until the fourth quarter that we were able to catch up with them."

San Antonio made 13-of-20 shots to forge a 31-29 lead after the first quarter. Toronto, which shot a miserable 36 percent in Tuesday's loss in Milwaukee, came out and went 14-of-24, led by Bargnani's 6-for-10, in the opening 12 minutes.

Both teams kept up the hot shooting in the second quarter that ended with the Spurs leading 60-56. The visitors shot 62.5 percent in the half while Toronto shot 57.8 percent, including an 8-for-9 showing from DeRozan.

Game Notes

The 1995-96 Chicago Bulls at 47-5, the Bulls the following year at 46-6 and the 1982-83 Philadelphia 76ers at 45-7 are the only other teams to have a better 52-game start than the Spurs...All three teams went on to win the NBA title during that season...Blair made 14-of-21 attempts for the Spurs, who shot 58 percent...Manu Ginobili supplied 12 points and nine assists in the win...Bargnani finished 13-for-20 while DeRozan was 10-of-18 from the floor. Calderon added six points, 11 assists and seven caroms in defeat...Recent Major League Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Roberto Alomar was in attendance.