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Ginobili leads Spurs to another home win

Dec 8, 2007 - 6:55 AM By Brian Guerra PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SAN ANTONIO (Ticker) -- Manu Ginobili scored 37 points as the San Antonio Spurs used a fourth-quarter comeback to secure a 104-98 victory over the Utah Jazz on Friday night at the AT&T center.

Tony Parker scored 16 points, including two big jumpers late, for San Antonio, which is 12-0 at home this season where it has had unprecedented success against Utah. The Spurs have not lost to the Jazz on their home floor since February 28, 1999.

Ginobili, who scored 14 points in the second, picked up the scoring slack for the Spurs, who are without superstar forward Tim Duncan for the second straight game while he rests an injured ankle.

"(Ginobili) makes it look easy," Jazz coach Jerry Sloan said. "He makes it look easy, but he's got a lot of toughness. He's got a lot of experience, and he took us to school."

"I am not surprised by anything Manu does," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "I stopped being surprised a long time ago. I just take it for granted that there will be a surprise every single game. He just competes like nobody's business."

Duncan's presence was missed most on defense.

As a result, it was the first time the Spurs entered the fourth quarter trailing at home this season.

"They're the best executing team in the league. They sliced us and diced for a while in that game," Popovich said.

But the Spurs found a way to make sure it wouldn't be their first blemish at home.

Fabricio Oberto, who tied his career high with 11 rebounds, had his hand in two big plays late in the game for the Spurs.

"He's a blue-collared worker. He's another one of those Argentinians who lays everything on the court every minute he's on the court," Popovich said.

His tip out to Parker midway through the fourth quarter led to Matt Bonner's jumper that gave the Spurs their first lead of the second half, 85-84.

He did it again a few possessions later, this time tipping it out to Michael Finley, who drained a 3-pointer for an 88-86 lead with 5:31 left in the game.

On the next possession, another Spurs' offensive rebound resulted in Parker's jumper, giving the Spurs a four-point lead with 3:59 to go.

The Jazz cut their deficit to 94-93, but Parker hit another jumper that gave the Spurs a three-point lead with just under a minute left. The Spurs won the free-throw battle that ensued to secure the victory.

"Right now, without Tim Duncan, the rest of the team is showing that we can play, too," Ginobili said. "But we miss him. We miss him a lot."

However, San Antonio did get the benefit of crucial offensive foul call on Utah forward Carlos Boozer, who was whistled for the foul with 15 seconds left and his team trailing by three points.

Boozer had 28 points and 16 rebounds and Deron Williams added 28 and 10 assists for Utah.