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Balanced effort leads Spurs past Raptors

Dec 11, 2013 - 6:41 AM Toronto, ON (SportsNetwork.com) - The San Antonio Spurs shook off a sluggish opening quarter to continue their dominance over the Toronto Raptors with a 116-103 win from Air Canada Centre.

Manu Ginobili led seven Spurs in double figures with 16 points, while Tony Parker netted 15 with six assists.

Tim Duncan, Danny Green and Aron Baynes each chipped in 14 points, with Baynes' effort a career-high for the second-year pro out of Australia.

"Baynes did a great job," Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said. "He hasn't played that much but he went down to the D-League and played a few games to stay in shape, kept himself ready and it showed tonight."

DeMar DeRozan and Amir Johnson each scored 19 points for Toronto, which has lost six straight games against San Antonio.

"Late in the game we didn't have too many bigs to match up with them," DeRozan said.

Jonas Valanciunas and Terrence Ross each netted 14 points, while Kyle Lowry finished with 11 points, seven rebounds, and seven assists in the setback.

Toronto made its first six shots from the field to jump out to a 13-6 lead after Ross' 3-pointer with 8:43 to play in the first quarter. The fast start from the Raptors, mixed with stagnant defense from San Antonio, led to a 36-24 advantage for the hosts heading into the second stanza.

The Raptors shot a blistering 62.5 percent from the field in the opening 12 minutes.

San Antonio's reserves got the Spurs back into the game, putting together a 19-4 run over the first 5:10 of the second quarter to take a 43-40 lead. Baynes followed three consecutive triples from San Antonio with six straight points to cap the run.

The Raptors quickly regained the lead less than a minute later after DeRozan scored five straight.

The Toronto lead was 49-46 when the Spurs ended the second quarter on a 13-4 to take a 59-53 advantage into the locker room.

The Spurs built their lead to double digits, 65-55, following a Green three early in the third quarter.

Later, Lowry hit a triple to cut the deficit to 78-71 with 3:22 to play in the period. San Antonio proceeded to outscore the hosts 11-3 to end the third and take an 89-74 lead into the fourth.

Patty Mills went 3-of-3 from deep to open the fourth, single-handedly leading a 9-2 charge to give the Spurs a comfortable 98-76 lead less than two minutes into the final frame. Mills capped the run with a three from the far corner that he had to shoot over the backboard in order to convert.

The Spurs' lead grew to as many as 24 in the period and the reserves finished what they started as San Antonio cruised to a win.

Game Notes

Mills finished with 11 points ... San Antonio shot 54.9 percent (45-of-82) from the field and 56.5 percent (13-for-23) from beyond the arc ... The Spurs have won four straight in Toronto during their winning streak against Canada's team ... The last win from Toronto against San Antonio came at Air Canada Centre on January 3, 2010 ... San Antonio is back in action on Wednesday against Milwaukee ... Toronto has off until Friday, when it hosts Philadelphia.