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Spurs hope to continue mastery of the East with Nets in town

Dec 31, 2013 - 3:23 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The San Antonio Spurs have dominated against the Eastern Conference this season and will try to keep that reputation going Tuesday versus the Brooklyn Nets at the AT&T Center.

The Spurs are 10-1 in matchups with Eastern Conference inhabitants and have won two straight overall and nine of 12 games. They improved to 11-4 in the Alamo City with Sunday's 112-104 victory over Sacramento in the opener of a four-game homestand.

Manu Ginobili scored a season-high 28 points off the bench, while Tony Parker added 22 points with seven assists and Tim Duncan finished with 17 points and 13 rebounds. The game was tight through the first three quarters, then San Antonio scored 31 of the 48 points in the final stanza.

"Well we played good defense in the fourth," said Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich. "We held them to 17 (points) as opposed to 38 in the second quarter. A combination of good defense in the fourth and making shots got us over the hump."

The Spurs distributed 29 assists and committed an NBA-low four turnovers.

Duncan has recorded nine double-doubles in his last 10 games for the Spurs, who will also host New York and the L.A. Clippers on the stay.

Brooklyn opened a rough stretch of three straight games on the road with Saturday's 105-91 setback at Indiana. It was the Nets' second loss to the Pacers in five days.

Paul Pierce scored 18 points and Mirza Teletovic added 17 for the Nets, who have lost five of their last six games and three in a row on the road. The Nets are 4-11 away from home this season.

"Coming out of the locker room we knew Indiana is the best in the third quarter," said Nets coach Jason Kidd. "They've played from behind and always looked at the third quarter to gain the lead. They took control."

Deron Williams chipped in 14 points and six assists in the loss.

The Nets will close out the trip Thursday in Oklahoma City. Brooklyn's opponents on this trip are a combined 73-17.

Brooklyn and San Antonio are meeting for the second straight season on New Year's Eve and the Spurs won the 2012-13 matchup by a 104-73 score. The Spurs are unbeaten in the last five meetings with the Nets and 19-1 over the previous 20 matchups between the teams.

The Nets have dropped 10 in a row in the Alamo City, last winning there back on Jan. 22, 2002.