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Shorthanded Spurs edge Warriors

Dec 20, 2013 - 7:39 AM Oakland, CA (SportsNetwork.com) - Playing without Tim Duncan, Manu Ginobili, and Tony Parker, the San Antonio Spurs walked out of Oracle Arena with a stunning 104-102 victory over the Golden State Warriors.

With the game tied at 102, Marco Belinelli's jumper with 6.9 seconds left was off the mark and Boris Diaw recovered the rebound in traffic. He missed his layup attempt, but Tiago Splitter was there to tip in his miss to break the tie with 2.1 seconds left.

It was unclear if the ball was off the rim when Splitter tipped it in, but since goaltending was not called on the court, the officials were not permitted to review the sequence.

On the ensuing possession, Andre Iguodala inbounded to Stephen Curry, who was smothered by a pair of San Antonio defenders and threw a deep, one-handed 3- pointer up at the buzzer that was well off the mark.

Belinelli scored a career-high 28 points on 10-of-16 shooting, while Kawhi Leonard and Patty Mills deposited season-highs with 21 and 20 points, respectively, for the Spurs, who wrapped up their four-game road trip with a 3-1 mark.

"It happens a lot in the league, when players are hurt and other players want to prove something. They want to show the coach they should be getting more minutes. The coach doesn't know what...he's doing, so to speak, so they come out and play hard," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

Curry finished with 30 points on 6-of-16 shooting from deep and added 15 assists in the setback. David Lee contributed a double-double with 32 points and 13 rebounds, while Andrew Bogut had eight points and 18 boards.

Klay Thompson finished with 13 points and was just 1-of-7 from beyond the arc.

Parker missed his second straight game because of a right shin contusion, while Duncan and Ginobili were held out to rest.

San Antonio scored 31 points off of 24 Golden State turnovers.

"We were careless and that gave them life. Twenty-four turnovers and 31 points off of turnovers -- (it's) tough to win ballgames that way That's not what championship-caliber teams do," said Warriors coach Mark Jackson.

Lee scored seven points during a 9-2 run to open the fourth to pull Golden State within one, 84-83.

After a pair of free throws from Belinelli, Thompson buried a 3-pointer to tie the game at 86 with 8:37 remaining.

Later, Curry hit a three to put the Warriors up 91-89 which was Golden State's first lead since early in the third.

Diaw then made a tough layup in traffic before Mills and Curry traded baskets as San Antonio held a one-point advantage with just over five minutes to play.

The lead remained one when Leonard hit a hook-shot to extend the cushion but Thompson made a layup off a nice feed from Bogut.

Diaw and Splitter worked a nice give-and-go and Diaw finished with a layup for a 102-99 lead with 47.6 ticks left.

Curry's floater was off the mark and Iguodala grabbed the loose ball and passed back to Curry, who side-stepped a defender and hit a triple to tie the game at 102 and set up the dramatic ending.

Golden State led by as many as 12 in the first quarter, but only brought a 23-18 advantage into the second frame.

The Warriors opened the second on an 11-2 run to increase the cushion. Marreese Speights scored the final six points of the spurt to give the Warriors a 34-20 advantage.

The Spurs answered with a 19-4 burst midway through the stanza. Danny Green hit a pair of 3-pointers and Leonard scored nine points during the run to help the Spurs to a 39-38 lead. San Antonio held a 53-51 advantage at the break.

Game Notes

The Spurs are now 2-0 against Golden State this season and snapped a two-game losing streak at Oracle Arena ... Golden State shot 8-of-31 (25.8 percent) from beyond the arc ... Splitter was 1-for-7 from the field ... San Antonio returns home to face the Thunder on Saturday ... Golden State hosts the Lakers Saturday.