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Duncan shines as Spurs roll past Kings

Mar 22, 2008 - 5:05 AM By Brian Guerra PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SAN ANTONIO (Ticker) - Tim Duncan had 21 points and 13 rebounds to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 100-89 victory over the Sacramento Kings on Friday night at the AT&T Center.

Tony Parker added 19 points for the defending champion Spurs, who won the second game of their back-to-back after defeating the Chicago Bulls on Thursday.

The wins came after the Spurs dropped four straight.

"It's great to get back on a little winning streak as tight as the West is," Duncan said. "We dropped from one to sixth or seventh in a little over a week."

San Antonio (46-23) holds down the sixth seed in the crowded Western Conference - two games behind the top-seeded Los Angeles Lakers (48-21).

The Spurs were able to force the Kings into tough shots, holding them to just 39 percent shooting.

"We kept them away from the basket," Duncan said. "They hit some long jump shots, but we can live with that, as long we're not giving up a lot of easy stuff near the basket."

Parker drilled a rare 3-pointer with under a minute left in the first half to help the Spurs grab a 54-47 advantage at halftime.

The Kings cut a big chunk out of their deficit to start the second half, tying the game at 58-58 with 7:39 remaining, but Bruce Bowen hit a 3-pointer in the corner to regain the lead for San Antonio.

The Spurs slowly pulled away thereafter, including one play when Parker stole the ball, raced down court and threw up a lefthanded layup high off the glass that rattled in to extend the lead to 75-65.

"We played a team that knows how to win basketball games tonight," Kings coach Reggie Theus said. "I thought the Spurs did a great job on us defensively tonight. We did a bad job of getting the ball out in the open and running."

Duncan scored four straight, including grabbing his own offensive rebound for an easy layup to forge a 16-point edge before coach Gregg Popovich took him and Parker out of the game.

"We were always in this game," Kings forward Ron Artest said. "We just made a couple of mistakes."

Artest scored 23 points and Kevin Martin added 20 for the Kings, who have lost six of their last seven road games.

Jacque Vaughn came off the bench for an effective night with 11 points and seven assists.

"He's playing great. He's been a great leader," Popovich said of Vaughn. "He's been aggressive and been finding open people. He's competing well."