Final
Balanced Spurs dominate Rockets
Dec 8, 2012 - 6:04 AM San Antonio, TX (Sports Network) - Tony Parker led six Spurs in double figures with 17 points while also dishing out seven assists as San Antonio routed the Houston Rockets, 114-92, on Friday.Tim Duncan, Gary Neal, Manu Ginobili and Patty Mills added 12 points apiece, with Duncan also contributing 12 rebounds in San Antonio's third straight win and its eighth victory in nine games.
Tiago Splitter rounded out the Spurs' double-digit scorers with 15 points.
"I thought we moved the ball with great pace offensively. I really liked the way they shared the ball and moved the ball in that regard," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
James Harden scored 29 points to pace the Rockets, who have dropped their last six road games. Patrick Patterson and Toney Douglas each contributed 10 points in defeat.
Parker led the way with eight points as the Spurs opened the game with a 12-2 run.
Harden answered with a personal 11-2 push to get the Rockets back within one, but they could not take the lead and trailed, 29-21, heading into the second quarter.
San Antonio again raced out of the gate in the second, starting the frame with an 11-3 swing to jump ahead, 40-24.
The Rockets would trail by double digits from there until an 8-0 run brought them within, 48-39, with about three minutes left in the half, on a Patterson jumper.
The Spurs, however, scored nine of the second quarter's final 15 points to take a 57-45 advantage into the break.
Houston was not able to cut its deficit to single figures again until Harden netted seven straight points around a Duncan jumper before stealing an errant Danny Green pass and feeding Jeremy Lin for a breakaway layup, making it a 66-58 game with 7 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter.
But the remainder of the frame belonged to the Spurs, who scored the next 15 points to run out to an 81-58 lead and used a 68.4 percent shooting performance in the third quarter to carry an 87-66 advantage into the fourth.
San Antonio's bench stretched its lead up to as much as 33 in the fourth as the Spurs cruised to the victory.
"They're a very good team, especially at home. They did a good job of moving the ball," Harden said about San Antonio. "We knew they were going to pass the ball. It was just a matter of us really locking down and trying to stay on one page defensively."
Game Notes
The Spurs have won seven of the last 10 meetings between the teams and six straight in San Antonio ... The Spurs shot 55.2 percent from the floor in the game while holding Houston to just 38.9 percent shooting ,,, Lin finished with four points on 2-of-9 shooting ... San Antonio held a 50-37 advantage on the glass and a 60-38 edge in points in the paint.
- HOUSTON: 92
SAN ANTONIO: 114
Final
Dec 7 10:36 PM - HOUSTON: 66
SAN ANTONIO: 87
End of 3rd
Dec 7 10:09 PM - 40
roots - 46
roots - HOUSTON: 45
SAN ANTONIO: 57
Halftime
Dec 7 9:30 PM - HOUSTON: 21
SAN ANTONIO: 29
End of 1st
Dec 7 9:02 PM - HOUSTON: 0
SAN ANTONIO: 2
1st Quarter - 11:44
Dec 7 8:41 PM
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