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Ginobili, Spurs edge Kings

Dec 30, 2013 - 6:04 AM San Antonio, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - Manu Ginobili dropped in a season-high 28 points off the bench to pace the San Antonio in a 112-104 win over the Sacramento Kings on Sunday night.

Tony Parker added 22 points with seven assists and Tim Duncan finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds in the win, San Antonio's sixth consecutive victory over Sacramento.

DeMarcus Cousins finished with game-highs of 29 points and 14 rebounds, while Isaiah Thomas had 27 points to go along with nine assists and Rudy Gay netted 24 in the loss.

"It was a tough loss," said Kings coach Michael Malone. "We did some great things tonight. I'm very proud of how we played tonight even though it was a disappointing road loss."

Kawhi Leonard and Duncan both hit jumpers to give the Spurs a 61-51 lead just 1:16 into the second half, but Sacramento used an 11-2 run to close within one, 63-62, after a jumper from Gay.

The Spurs pushed the margin back to four when Gay hit successive jumpers to tie the game at 67 and then Cousins knocked down a mid-range shot midway through the third for Sacramento's first lead since the opening quarter.

Leonard would tie the game at 75 after a triple, but the Kings outscored the Spurs 12-6 over the final 3:14 of the frame to take an 87-81 lead into the fourth.

Parker hit a trey to tie the game at 94 with 7:20 to play in the final stanza. Cousins then tipped in his own miss and Gay followed with a jumper for a 98-94 Sacramento lead with half a quarter to go.

The score remained a four-point game in favor of Sacramento when the Spurs ended the final 3:14 on a 16-4 run. Parker tracked down a Ginobili miss and Danny Green passed it back to Ginobili, who nailed his second attempt at a 3 during the possession.

Cousins answered with a jumper and Ginobili kept his hot hand with another triple to tie the game at 102 with 3:10 remaining.

Following a backcourt violation on Sacramento, Cousins swiped at Duncan, who banked in a hook shot and made the free throw to continue San Antonio's run.

Parker hit the dagger with a corner 3 with 50 ticks to go which extended the Spurs lead to 108-102.

Thomas cut the deficit in half when Parker hit another jumper and capped the run with a pair at the line for the final margin.

"Well we played good defense in the fourth," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. "We held them to 17 (points) as opposed to 38 in the second quarter. A combination of good defense in the fourth and making shots got us over the hump."

Jason Thompson made a three-point play to put the Kings up 14-11 midway through the first quarter when Parker scored six points during an 8-0 run for the Spurs.

Jimmer Fredette and Gay hit back-to-back buckets to halt the sequence and trim the deficit to 19-18.

San Antonio took a 27-23 lead at the end of one.

The Spurs broke the game open in the second with a 15-2 burst behind Ginobili and Green. Ginobili opened the run with four straight and Green added five to give the Spurs a 45-30 lead.

Sacramento, however, closed to 57-47 at the half.

Game Notes

San Antonio has won 3-of-4 overall ... The Kings shot 7-for-14 (50 percent) from deep and held the Spurs to 8-of-24 (33.3 percent) from beyond the arc ... Boris Diaw contributed 14 points off the bench for San Antonio ... Sacramento outrebounded the Spurs 51-44 ... The Spurs committed a season-low four turnovers. Their previous low was nine.