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Spurs hang on to beat Durant, Thunder

Feb 24, 2011 - 5:36 AM San Antonio, TX (Sports Network) - Tony Parker scored 20 points, Gary Neal had 19 and the San Antonio Spurs escaped with a 109-105 victory over Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Tim Duncan added 17 points while Richard Jefferson and Matt Bonner scored 12 apiece for the Spurs, who started their post-All Star break schedule by winning their 19th straight game at home.

Durant led all players with 30 points, but didn't get a chance to shoot a potential game-tying three-pointer when teammate Jeff Green pulled the trigger early in the final seconds.

Russell Westbrook added 25 points as the Thunder had a two-game winning streak snapped.

"Coming out of the All-Star break, with us having the best record in the NBA, you kind of want to defend your home court, especially against a team like Oklahoma City," said Neal. "So this was a huge game for us."

Oklahoma City gave the Spurs a run, beginning with a 37-31 first quarter that tied a season-high for points scored against the NBA's top team in the opening 12 minutes.

The Thunder led by as many as eight points in the second quarter when Serge Ibaka's bucket made it 39-31. But San Antonio, spreading the ball around, ended the frame with a 13-2 run to take a 64-53 lead at halftime.

The Spurs never trailed in the third quarter, taking an 88-80 lead into the fourth, but Oklahoma City took its first lead of the second half when James Harden hit two free throws to break a 94-94 tie with 6:56 remaining.

It was tight down the stretch. Durant missed a chance to give the Thunder a one-point lead with 48.9 seconds left when he was off-line on a tough jumper over Jefferson.

Parker was clutch, beating the shot clock with a jumper from the right side to make it 106-103 Spurs with 26.1 ticks remaining. Durant found Ibaka for a dunk at the other end five seconds later, but the Thunder sent Manu Ginobili to the foul line and he hit both to restore the three-point San Antonio lead.

At the other end, Green pulled up for a long three-pointer several feet behind the arc and guarded closely by Ginobili that didn't come close to going in.

The shot probably should have been Durant's, and Parker sealed the four-point win by hitting 1-of-2 free throws.

"We knew we were playing the best team in basketball and we had to play with great effort and we did," said Thunder head coach Scott Brooks. "We came back in the second half much better. I thought the first half we played hard, we just made a lot of mental mistakes."

Game Notes

While the Spurs were playing their first game since the All-Star break, the Thunder were coming off a 23-point win over Blake Griffin and the LA Clippers on Tuesday...San Antonio started a three-game homestand that also includes visits from the Nets and Grizzlies...San Antonio's last loss at home was to Dallas on November 26.