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Ginobili leads Spurs past Grizzlies

Jan 8, 2007 - 1:09 AM MEMPHIS, Tennessee (Ticker) -- With Tony Parker out, Manu Ginobili's hot shooting ended the San Antonio Spurs' losing streak.

Ginobili scored a season-high 34 points to lead the Spurs to a 110-96 triumph over the lowly Memphis Grizzlies, snapping a three-game losing streak.

The 6-6 Ginobili, who was 10-of-15 from the field and 6-of-8 from 3-point range, outscored the Grizzlies, 9-3, over the final 2:47 of the second quarter to push a 48-42 advantage to a 57-45 bulge at halftime.

"I only knew about Tony (not playing) before the game," Ginobili said. "I didn't have too much time to think about it. But I don't even think I had many more touches. I just happened to make every shot. I'm happy it happened because we needed a win."

"I think with the zone, they can kind of collapse on Timmy (Duncan), and it makes it tough for him down there," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "I thought Manu did a great job of creating for us, knocking down threes, obviously, but also penetrating to the bucket. He also did a very good job defensively. He and Robert (Horry) gave us a lot of energy tonight."

Parker sat out Sunday's game with a strained right hip suffered during Friday night's game against the Dallas Mavericks.

"I'm pretty sure it's (day-to-day)," Popovich said. "It's not a long-term thing, for sure. It might be one game, three games, four games, something like that, but I'm not sure."

Pau Gasol's jumper with 5:13 left in the third quarter got the Grizzlies within 71-65, but the Spurs went on a 15-7 spurt highlighted by Horry's 3-pointer to increase their lead to 84-72.

Horry scored 18 points and fellow reserve Michael Finley added 12 for San Antonio, which outscored Memphis' bench, 45-29.

"Robert, obviously, did a great job," Popovich said. "He was energized tonight. His mom was here so we're going to take her on our flights the rest of the year. We're going to put one of the players back with the coaches and we're going to give her a seat up front."

Duncan scored a season-low 10 points on 5-of-13 shooting. His previous low was 11 on December 23 against New Orleans.

Gasol netted 24 points for the Grizzlies, who shot 46 percent (36-of-78).

"One of our thought processes for today was to contain their 3-point shooters," Grizzlies coach Tony Barone said. "That was part ouf our defensive mentality coming into the game. Right now we will help on defense, but not recover. I thought when we went to zone, we at least slowed them down initially.

"They have great shooters in (Bruce) Bowen and Ginobili. When the ball gets thrown deep to Tim, it creates a lot of problems for you, because he doesn't care if he scores or not."

Memphis has allowed at least 100 points in 11 consecutive games and has lost eight of those contests.