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Spurs outlast Mavs behind Duncan, Parker

Dec 10, 2008 - 6:30 AM By John Tranchina PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

DALLAS (Ticker) -- Tim Duncan scored 32 points and had 14 rebounds as the San Antonio Spurs outlasted the Dallas Mavericks 133-126 in double overtime Tuesday night.

Tony Parker added 29 points and 10 assists for San Antonio, which won its third in a row.

It was an epic contest reminiscent of some of their past playoff encounters, with the Spurs pulling away late in the second overtime.

"I don't know what else to say, but it was a great game," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "You know the trite comment that either team could have won easily is absolutely true. We were thrilled to get it done in the end. There is a lot of respect there and a lot of competitiveness and the fans were treated to a great game."

"It was (like a playoff game) all the way from beginning to end," Duncan said. "It was double overtime, just a great game by both teams, fighting through ups and downs."

The Mavericks lost for just the second time in their last 11 contests. Dirk Nowitzki scored a game-high 35 points and grabbed 10 rebounds while Jason Kidd collected 24 points and 12 assists, missing his second triple-double of the season by two rebounds.

"We did a good job getting it into overtime because we played from behind most of the time in the fourth," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "So it's disappointing. It was a great game. It was a lot of great basketball and they just made a couple of more plays at key times than we were able to make."

"It's tough, especially the way we have been playing," Kidd said. "It was a pretty entertaining game all the way around. We wish we would have been on the other end of the stick, but it's something we can learn from. We had our chances and they made shots when they had to."

Third-year Mavs guard Jose Juan Barea, somewhat of a revelation as he averaged 20 points the two previous games as he made his first two NBA starts, got into foul trouble early but still scored 21 points, with 13 coming in the fourth quarter.

"I hit a couple of buckets in a row, Coach kept calling that pick-and-roll for me and I just kept being aggressive," Barea said of his performance in the fourth quarter. "Coach has confidence in me, my teammates have confidence in me and that makes me play better."

"It was like he was a franchise out there," Parker said of Barea. "He was running every single play. He looked a little bit like Steve Nash driblling like 100 times. Sometimes it's tough to guard that because you never know what he's going to do."

Kidd's lay-up from underneath the basket with 2:10 left in the second OT put Dallas ahead 125--124, but San Antonio came right back down the court and Bruce Bowen nailed a 3-pointer from the right side to give the Spurs a two-point lead with 1:50 to go.

"Bruce is always ready and that's his shot," Duncan said. "We've been making that pass and catch and shot for a lot of years now. He stepped up and hit a big one for us."

Erick Dampier made just one of two free throws with 54 seconds left and then Duncan drove the lane and banked one in off the glass with 40 seconds to go to make it 129-126. When Barea clanked a three-point attempt off the rim 11 seconds later, the Mavericks were forced to foul the Spurs, and Roger Mason hit two free throws with 23 seconds left to clinch it.

Nowitzki, the reigning Western Conference Player of the Week after averaging 30.7 points and 10.0 rebounds per game in his previous three games, had 15 in the third quarter alone.

After Nowitzki knocked down a jump shot from 20 feet, Dallas led 111-110 with 3:27 left in the first overtime, but the Spurs came back to take a 115-111 lead on Duncan's put-back with 2:39 remaining.

Jason Terry sank two free throws with 2:16 left to make it a two-point game, but after Kidd missed from three-point range with 50 seconds left, Terry was called for a flagrant foul on Parker as he drove the basket with 43 seconds remaining. Parker made one of two free throws and then missed a jumper from around the free throw line. Dallas got the rebound and Kidd sank a 3-pointer with 19 seconds left to tie it again at 116-116.

The Spurs took a 47-45 lead into halftime, but the Mavericks opened the third quarter with an 8-0 run to go back up by six when Devean George sank a jump shot from 15 feet out. Dallas maintained a six-point lead with 4:40 to go when the Spurs used a 12-3 run to go back on top and held an 81-79 advantage going into the final quarter.

San Antonio led 107-105 with 1:41 left in regulation when Ginobili tapped in a Parker miss and Dallas tied it again with 1:23 on the clock on Nowitzki's turn-around jumper. Each team had multiple shots after that but neither could get one to fall, setting the stage for overtime.

Dallas was once again without forward Josh Howard, who has been listed as day-to-day with a sprained left ankle for at least a week. The Mavs are 7-1 without Howard, who averaged 20.3 points in the nine games he's played.