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Parker, Spurs win in OT to keep Houston winless

Nov 7, 2010 - 4:43 AM San Antonio, TX (Sports Network) - Tony Parker scored seven of his 21 points in overtime and added 14 assists, as the San Antonio Spurs held off the winless Houston Rockets, 124-121, at the AT&T Center.

Manu Ginobili finished with 28 points for the Spurs, who are off to a 4-1 start. Richard Jefferson tallied 22 points for San Antonio, which got 19 points and 11 rebounds from Tim Duncan.

"Tony did a wonderful job of making sure he stayed aggressive and didn't just defer to anybody," Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said. "When he had opportunities, he took advantage of them. He either made the pass or he scored himself and did a real fine job. Manu helped us hang in for awhile. Timmy helped us hang in for awhile and Tony was great in that situation in overtime."

Kevin Martin scored 24 points for the Rockets, who are off to an 0-5 start for the first time since the 1999-2000 campaign. Luis Scola added 20 points and eight boards, while Aaron Brooks had 18 points in defeat.

Parker scored San Antonio's first seven points of overtime to give the home team a 120-119 lead with over 1 1/2 minutes left.

Scola responded with a layup to give the Rockets a one-point lead, but the visitors failed to score the rest of the way.

Duncan was fouled on a layup with 22.9 seconds remaining. He missed the free throw, though, and the Spurs held a one-point lead. Scola's turnover led to two Ginobili free throws for a 124-121 margin with 14.3 ticks to go.

Houston missed a trio of three-pointers in the final seconds.

"I'm proud of the guys the way they played and battled back and had the chance to win," Rockets head coach Rick Adelman said. "They're big players; they make big shots. You know Ginobili made shot after shot, Parker made a couple jumpers. We made two crucial mistakes in the overtime and it cost us."

The Rockets scored the first 10 points of the fourth quarter to take a 94-91 lead. The Spurs put together a 10-2 run moments later to go back in front. Ginobili and Jefferson bookended the spurt with three-pointers to make it a 103-98 game with under 6 1/2 minutes left.

DeJuan Blair's jumper had San Antonio ahead by three, 105-102, with 4:51 remaining. Houston, though, responded with an 11-4 surge. Shane Battier's trey put the Rockets in front by four, 113-109, with about 1 1/2 minutes to go.

Antonio McDyess blocked Ishmael Smith's driving layup, which led to an easy layup from Jefferson with 45.3 seconds left. Courtney Lee missed two free throws at the other end.

Ginobili made a step-back jumper with 9.9 ticks remaining to make it a 113-113 game. Smith then missed a runner and McDyess grabbed the defensive rebound with 1.2 seconds to go.

Ginobili missed a jumper at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.

A tight first half resulted in the Spurs taking a 57-52 lead into the locker room.

San Antonio, which led by as many as 14 in the third, took a 91-84 advantage into the fourth.

Game Notes

Houston and San Antonio split four games a year ago, while the Spurs are 22-10 in the previous 32 meetings between the rivals. Houston has lost 22 of its last 26 contests in the Alamo City...Houston Rockets guard Kyle Lowry did not travel with the team to San Antonio for Saturday's game due to back spasms...Spurs guard James Anderson (personal) missed the game...Houston turned the ball over 16 times, leading to 23 San Antonio points.