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Duncan, Spurs beat Thunder to remain hot at home

Jan 2, 2011 - 6:30 AM San Antonio, TX (Sports Network) - Tim Duncan finished with 21 points and nine rebounds, George Hill contributed 16 points off the bench, and the San Antonio Spurs topped Oklahoma City 101-74 at AT&T Center.

Tony Parker notched a double-double with 14 points and 10 assists and DeJuan Blair added 12 points and nine rebounds for San Antonio, which has won four straight and is now 19-2 at home.

Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 16 points. Serge Ibaka added 14 points and 13 rebounds and James Harden scored 12 for Oklahoma City, which had a two-game winning streak snapped and began a three-game road trip.

"We got beat by the best team in basketball," Thunder head coach Scott Brooks said. "They handed it to us pretty fair and square."

Duncan, Blair and Hill each scored six points in the first quarter as the Spurs took a 31-17 lead after the opening 12 minutes. The Spurs' lead was 49-36 at the half after a back-and-forth second quarter.

Blair's floating jumper at 5:05 of the third gave the Spurs a 66-52 lead and started a 13-1 run for San Antonio to end the quarter.

Duncan connected on a mid-range jumper 73 seconds later, and added a bank shot with 2 1/2 remaining to put the Spurs up 70-52. Harden scored the only Oklahoma City point during the span, making the second of two free throws

Gary Neal connected on a long three, and Hill ended the run with a jumper and finger-roll layup to give San Antonio a 77-53 lead entering the fourth quarter.

"Great team defense," Hill said. "It's tough guarding (Russell) Westbrook and Durant. They have a lot of things they can do, but I think today everyone was mentally tough. I think the team defense overall was great."

The Spurs' lead reached a game-high 27 when Tiago Splitter connected on a putback layup with 4:32 remaining and the outcome was never in doubt.

Game Notes

It was San Antonio's 12th straight home victory...The Spurs have won five straight in this series...Manu Ginobili added nine points and seven assists in the victory...The Spurs scored 60 points in the paint...It marked a season-low in points for Oklahoma City (previous low was 82 in a win over Milwaukee on November 20).