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Duncan, Ginobili too much for Pacers

Jan 21, 2009 - 6:30 AM SAN ANTONIO (Ticker) -- Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili were a one-two punch for which the Indiana Pacers had no answer.

Duncan recorded a double-double by halftime and Ginobili had a stellar game off the bench to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 99-81 victory over the Pacers on Tuesday.

Winners of three straight and four of five, the Spurs were led by Duncan with 27 points and 10 rebounds. Duncan had 16 points and 10 boards in the first half as San Antonio opened up a 53-40 lead.

"It was a fine effort for four or five games in seven nights," Spurs coach Greg Popovich said. "They showed great energy and did a great job defensively. I was pleased with the overall effort, especially on a team that scores the third most points in the league. I was concerned if we could stop that."

Ginobili added 26 points and eight rebounds and made all four of his shots from the arc.

"That's Manu. He Picks his spots. He's starting to look like the Manu of old," Popovich said.

Danny Granger scored 17 points for the Pacers, who have dropped two straight.

"They're an awfully good team, a rough team to play," Pacers coach Jim O'Brien said. "The story in the first half when they got the lead was that they beat us 15-6 in fast break points and we're suppose to be the team that scores a lot, but they beat us at that. They also killed us on the glass. You can't do that and think you're going to win against a team like San Antonio."

Tony Parker added 13 points for San Antonio, which has won eight of its last 10.

Mike Dunleavy had 15 points for the Pacers, who shot 37 percent from the field. Indiana entered the game third in the league in scoring, but scored its second-fewest points in a game this season.

"We're not use to games like this, I don't know how many times its happened this year but you're very glad we did," Ginobili said. "Overall it was a great game defensively, we did a very good job holding a high scoring team under 90."

Duncan played a little over 26 minutes and not at all in the fourth quarter, but he was not needed. The Spurs extended their lead to 24 points in the third quarter and as much as 29 in the fourth.

"We had been down big before by 17, 18, 19 points in the fourth and came back. Once the lead got close to 30, it was hard to make a comeback," Granger said. "We have work to do to get better as a team. As a team we have to look to the next game and just learn from tonight."