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Duncan, Spurs rally to send Heat to 15th loss in a row

Jan 25, 2008 - 5:03 AM MIAMI (Ticker) -- The San Antonio Spurs showed their championship toughness down the stretch.

Tim Duncan collected 30 points and 11 rebounds and Manu Ginobili added 18 and 11 off the bench as the Spurs rallied late in the fourth quarter for a 90-89 win over the reeling Miami Heat on Thursday.

The loss was the 15th consecutive for the shorthanded Heat, who are just two shy from trying the franchise record of 17 set by the 1988-89 squad.

"We all want this thing to end," Heat coach Pat Riley said. "We are rooting for one another, everybody is into it. There are no prizes for second place. You have to get the (win)."

Miami faces Indiana and Boston in its next two games here.

Tony Parker scored 12 points and Michael Finley chipped in 10 each for San Antonio, which arrived in South Beach around 5:00 a.m. following Wednesday's hard-fought triumph over the Los Angeles Lakers.

"We kind of stuck around until we could make a play to win," said Duncan, who was voted to his 10th straight All-Star Game for the Western Conference earlier. "It was a tough back-to-back and we were down the entire game and we stuck with it."

Tied at 57-57 in the third quarter, the Heat relied heavily on the shoulders of Dwyane Wade, who had his hand in every basket during an impressive 13-3 surge to forge a 70-60 edge with 1:31 left.

Voted in as a starter for the Eastern Conference All-Star team earlier in the day, Wade finished with 27 points on 10-of-23 shooting.

Wade declined to speak to reporters following the loss.

However, the defending champions clawed their way back into it when defensive-minded Bruce Bowen hit a 21-foot jumper at the 6:13 mark, slicing the deficit to 83-81 in the fourth.

"I thought that they wanted the game badly and I thought we showed a lot of character in coming in here under the circumstances and playing like we did," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "I thought we might run out of gas, but we didn't."

A pair of free throws by Parker gave the Spurs their first lead of the quarter with 2:23 remaining, but Wade responded with a driving layup to rebuild a one-point advantage.

After being forced into turnovers on its last two possessions, San Antonio regained the lead for good on Ginobili's layup with 36 seconds to go.

"I just saw the lane was open and tried to finish," Ginobili said.

Wade still had a chance to pull it out, but misfired on a 16-footer and committed a costly turnover in the paint in the waning moments as the Heat went 2-of-12 to finish the game.

"I was just so happy (Wade) kept driving because I think the last shot he took was a jumper and he wanted to take it all the way to the basket," said Bowen, who defended Wade on the final possession.

Mark Blount, who poured in 23 points, stepped up big in the absence of Heat injured center Shaquille O'Neal, who is out for at least two weeks because of a nagging left hip injury.