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Duncan, Spurs swat Rockets

Nov 15, 2008 - 6:04 AM SAN ANTONIO (Ticker) -- The San Antonio Spurs unleashed a fourth-quarter surge to stun the Houston Rockets, 77-75, on Friday.

The Spurs trailed, 70-56, with 7:37 left after Houston's Aaron Brooks hit a short jumper. They went on a 20-5 run that was capped by Tim Duncan's basket.

Each team missed a shot before the Spurs fouled Brooks with 13 seconds left. San Antonio was not in the penalty, and Houston called time to set up a play.

Brooks drove to the hoop and had his shot swatted by Duncan. Roger Mason was fouled and knocked down 1-of-2 to make it 77-75 with less than two seconds left.

I'm the help-side defender and I got there just in time," Duncan said.

"He made a great play and blocked the shot," Brooks said.

After a series of timeouts, Houston had Ron Artest throw an inbounds pass to Brooks. The ball was fed back to Artest, who missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer. The Spurs outscored the Rockets, 22-13, after entering the final period trailing 62-55.

Brooks played nearly 41 minutes in place of Rafer Alston, who was serving the first of his two-game suspension for an altercation with Matt Barnes in the Rockets' win over the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday.

Tracy McGrady was fined $25,000 for his role in the incident. He had an off-night against San Antonio, shooting 2-of-12 from the field for seven points.

"One thing you can't do is struggle defensively," McGrady said. "They got to the basket a couple times, got easy layups, got a wide-open three. We just broke down defensively."

Duncan led San Antonio with 22 points and five rebounds.

Artest scored 18 points for Houston. Yao Ming had 13 points and eight rebounds.

"We did not do anything in the fourth quarter offensively," Rockets coach Rick Adelman said. "We turned it over. We got drives to the basket we missed. We just didn't execute."