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Spurs roll past Warriors, Duncan leaves with ankle injury

Mar 22, 2011 - 4:55 AM San Antonio, TX (Sports Network) - Manu Ginobili scored a game-high 28 points and Tony Parker compiled 17 points and 15 assists, as San Antonio rolled past Golden State, 111-96, at the AT&T Center.

Richard Jefferson added 12 points, Steve Novak shot his way to 13 points and Tiago Splitter netted 10 points and pulled down 14 rebounds. The Spurs won despite playing without big man DeJuan Blair due to a sprained left wrist then Tim Duncan left the game early in the first quarter with a sprained left ankle.

The star forward came down awkwardly after draining a short jumper just over four minutes into the game. He was helped into the locker room and x-rays were negative. The Spurs persevered to win their third straight game.

"Well Tiago is going to give you that (hustle) every night. He's going to bust his butt to rebound and play defense. He's going to give you that grunt that every team needs and every coach loves. That's nothing different from him. That's just what he does," San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich said about Splitter's play in Duncan's absence.

Ekpe Udoh led Golden State with 15 points and seven rebounds, Dorell Wright chipped in with 14 points and six rebounds, while David Lee collected 13 points and nine rebounds. Acie Law added 14 points off the bench, as the visitors placed six players in double figures. The Warriors have lost five straight.

"It was just a good ball club. We fought hard to get ourselves back in the game and they just made plays down the stretch," Warriors guard Monta Ellis said.

The Spurs scored nine of the game's first 11 points then rattled off 12 straight points in-between Duncan's injury to take a 23-7 lead. Ginobili's trey capped the stretch to push the margin to 16. The lead grew to as many as 18 points, but the Warriors reeled off 10 of the quarter's final 13 points to get within 32-21.

Golden State continued to slice into the substantial margin, drawing within 34-29 on Reggie Williams' jumper. San Antonio restored some order, pushing the margin back to double-digits and the score stood at 54-45 at the half.

San Antonio maintained the status quo in the third, keeping the lead grew eight and 12 points for the majority of the time before a late flurry pushed the lead even higher. A 14-6 scoring stretch over a three-plus-minute time frame opened an 86-67 lead on Jefferson' slam. The Spurs held an 86-69 lead after three periods.

The Warriors got within seven points at 93-86 on Wright's jumper with just under six minutes remaining but Ginobili's two jumpers spurred a quick 7-0 stretch to created breathing room for the home team down the stretch.

Game Notes

San Antonio made 49.4 percent of its shots, while Golden State connected on 45.2 percent from the floor...Al Thornton and Ellis each scored 10 points in defeat...The Spurs have won 12 straight in the series with the Warriors.