Spurs 106 - 102 Jazz
Final
  for this game

Spurs top Jazz for 11th straight win

Feb 21, 2012 - 5:41 AM Salt Lake City, UT (Sports Network) - Tony Parker had 23 points and 11 assists on Monday and the San Antonio Spurs extended their winning streak to 11 games with a 106-102 victory over the Utah Jazz.

Tim Duncan and Matt Bonner scored 20 points apiece for the shorthanded Spurs, who learned earlier that guard Manu Ginobili and forward Tiago Splitter were expected to miss the next two weeks with injuries.

Richard Jefferson scored only five points, but three came on a long-range shot from the right corner that gave the Spurs a five-point lead in the last minute and all but sealed San Antonio's first 11-game winning streak since November 2010.

The Spurs are 7-0 on their nine-game rodeo road trip.

"It's great for us, but there is absolutely no focus on it," Duncan said of the winning streak. "We're not even thinking about it. We're going to play it a game at a time -- however it works, it works. We've had a good stretch here. Now we've got a couple more games to end strong."

Al Jefferson led Utah with 20 points and 11 rebounds while Paul Millsap also had a double-double, scoring 16 and pulling down 11 boards. The Jazz have lost four of their last five and fell to 3-9 in their last 12.

"Tough loss. I thought our guys really played hard," said Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin, whose team had more rebounds, more points in the paint and more fast break points than the Spurs. "We had a chance to win the ball game."

The Jazz also out-shot San Antonio, 47.6 percent to 46.2, and had an 11-point lead in the third quarter. But the Spurs came back to tie it at 80-80 entering the fourth.

"To their credit," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said of his team's comeback, "it's mental toughness. It's a professionalism and a mental toughness knowing that the game is 48 minutes and you just keep playing. That's your responsibility to each other and you have to feel it and believe it.

The Spurs didn't take the lead for good until Gary Neal's three-pointer made it 97-96 inside the five-minute mark. A Parker free throw and Jefferson's jumper pushed the lead to four points, but it wasn't higher than that until Jefferson's three from the corner with 6.5 seconds left.

On the play, Parker drove the lane and kicked the ball back to Neal on the right wing. Neal swung it down to Jefferson, who rattled in the shot to force Utah to call a timeout.

The Jazz got an uncontested dunk from Gordon Hayward at the other end, but Neal's free throw made it a four-point game with 3.6 seconds remaining and Utah didn't have enough time.

The Spurs beat the Jazz for the fifth straight time after losing the previous four games in the series. They have won 11 in a row for the first time since a 12-game winning streak from November 1-24, 2010.

Utah had a 30-26 lead after one quarter, but the Spurs shot better than 54 percent in the second and took a 56-53 advantage into halftime.

Game Notes

The Spurs continue their road trip in Portland on Tuesday and finish it at Denver on Thursday...Ginobili has a left oblique strain and Splitter has a strained calf. Both were injured during Saturday's overtime win over the Clippers.






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