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Spurs welcome Bucks to Alamo City

Jan 19, 2014 - 3:23 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The San Antonio Spurs saw a six-game winning streak disappear last time out, so they will try to get back on track Sunday night when the Milwaukee Bucks come to AT&T Center.

The Spurs fell to the Portland Trail Blazers, 109-100 on Friday in Alamo City. The loss inched the Blazers within a half-game of San Antonio for the best record in the west.

Manu Ginobili ended with 29 points, seven rebounds and five assists for the Spurs. Marco Belinelli and Boris Diaw each had 14 points, while future Hall of Famers struggled a bit. Tim Duncan managed 13 and Tony Parker only had 12.

Trailing 65-55 with 7:18 left in the third quarter, the Spurs called a timeout. Head coach Gregg Popovich was ejected after yelling at the referees. Damian Lillard made the ensuing technical free throws to make it a 12-point contest.

Popovich's ejection seemed to fire up the Spurs, who ended the third period on a 15-4 run. Ginobili scored all 15 of San Antonio's points to give the home team a 78-77 lead after three frames.

"Obviously you know Manu, he was spectacular. I thought Boris did a great job on Aldridge in a lot of ways," Popovich said. "Just didn't go his way, so to speak, on several occasions. He hung in there and he kept playing. I thought he did a good job, played him square and did what we wanted to do."

San Antonio lost forward Matt Bonner to a broken nose. He played just over six minutes before exiting.

The Bucks dropped their eighth straight game on Saturday, a 114-104 setback in Houston.

Brandon Knight paced Milwaukee with 26 points and seven assists. John Henson distributed a double-double of 20 points and 15 rebounds, while Luke Ridnour and Larry Sanders added 14 and 12 points, respectively, in defeat.

Houston led wire-to-wire aside from a 15-15 tie early in the first quarter. Terrence Jones, James Harden, and Dwight Howard all scored during a 10-3 run to give the Rockets a 25-18 lead with 3:15 remaining in the first.

It was all over from there.

"It seems like every time we did make a run, they hit a big three or Terrence Jones got a dunk," Ridnour admitted. "We hung in for as long as we could, but we couldn't quite get over the hump."

The Spurs, who host Oklahoma City on Wednesday, beat the Bucks in Milwaukee on Dec. 11 and have won three straight in the series. The Spurs are 8-2 in their last 10 against the Bucks in San Antonio.