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Spurs rally to beat Mavs in Game 1

Apr 20, 2014 - 11:38 PM San Antonio, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - The San Antonio Spurs have defeated their in-state rival Dallas Mavericks 10 straight times, mostly due to point guard Tony Parker weaving around and finding open shooters along the perimeter.

Except when those shots weren't falling Sunday, the Spurs had to find another way to win.

Tim Duncan had 27 points and seven rebounds and the San Antonio Spurs rallied for a 90-85 triumph over the Mavericks on Sunday in Game 1 of their Western Conference quarterfinal series.

Manu Ginobili, who went 3-of-6 from 3-point range, was the only Spur to hit a triple for San Antonio, which went just 3-of-17 (17.6 percent) as a team. It shot a blistering 43.3 percent (42-of-97) from downtown in four games against Dallas this season.

"We got killed on 3s in the first four outings this year," Mavericks forward Dirk Nowitzki said. "We stayed home a little more on 3-point shooters, but you've got to give them something, and Duncan in there is obviously still solid."

The Spurs trailed 81-71 with 7:45 to play, but closed the game on a 19-4 run.

"Made some stops, that generates offense. We needed it," Parker said of the run.

Duncan banked in a turnaround and then put in a runner to begin the surge before Splitter tied the game at 81-81 with a layup with 4:54 remaining. Consecutive Parker baskets gave the Spurs their first lead since it was 50-49 when there was 8:14 left in the third.

Brandan Wright split a pair of foul shots to pull Dallas within 86-82 with 2:05 on the clock, but it never got any closer. Splitter sunk two foul shots at the other end and the Mavericks missed three of their final four shots from the field.

Parker posted 21 points, six assists and four rebounds for the top-seeded Spurs, who finished with the NBA's best record at 62-20.

Nowitzki was limited to 11 points and eight rebounds on 4-of-14 shooting for Dallas, which lost to the Grizzlies in overtime Wednesday on the final day of the season to fall into the eighth seed.

This is the sixth time since 2001 that these teams have met in the postseason. San Antonio won three of the previous series.

The Spurs jumped on the Mavericks early, racing out to a 9-2 start before settling for a 21-12 advantage following a quarter of play. Dallas shot just 25 percent (5-of-20) in the opening 12 minutes.

Dallas, though, netted the first 12 points of the second.

Harris had the final eight, including back-to-back triples for a 24-21 Dallas edge. It remained tight through the remainder of the frame and Harris' driving layup with 1.6 ticks before the break staked the Mavs to a 44-43 edge.

The tilt was knotted 65-65 after three before Wright's three-point play concluded a 16-6 swing to begin the fourth, which gave Dallas its 81-71 margin.

Game Notes

Ginobili finished with 17 points and six rebounds, while Harris supplied 19 points and five assists ... San Antonio shot 43.2 percent (35-of-81) from the floor.