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SAN ANTONIO -- The Spurs play a style thats been described as boring and ugly at times, so it only made sense that they felt comfortable down the stretch against Charlotte in a game their own coach said was "hard to watch. jerseys from china ." Tim Duncan had 17 points and 16 rebounds, and San Antonio overcame a sluggish start to beat the Bobcats 92-82 on Friday night. The Spurs clinched their 17th consecutive winning season, dating to Duncans first with the team. Manu Ginobili scored 15 points, Marco Belinelli and Patty Mills added 14 each and Kawhi Leonard had 12 for San Antonio (42-16). "Im really proud of how they hung in and realized it was a 48-minute game," coach Gregg Popovich said. "Manu didnt have a good game for a while, but down the stretch he came through. He and Timmy, they executed well; Patty really well (and), obviously, Marco was a big help. Overall it was a hell of a win against a very good basketball team." Al Jefferson scored 20 points and former Spurs guard Gary Neal added 15 for Charlotte (27-31), which had its four-game winning streak snapped. Gerald Henderson scored 12 and Kemba Walker 11. San Antonio had 19 turnovers, but only one in the final 6 minutes of the game. That helped the Spurs overcome a 14-point deficit in the first half. "Fourteen points in this league is nothing," Bobcats coach Steve Clifford said. "Especially against a team like that, that shoots the ball like that. I think the way you look at it, to me, is you want to have a chance on the road at the end of the game to win, which we did." There were three ties and two lead changes in the final 7 minutes as the Spurs celebrated Military Appreciation Night with camouflage uniforms. Ginobili blocked Walkers layup attempt and drew a charge on Jefferson on consecutive possessions. Duncan followed with a 15-foot jumper that gave San Antonio an 82-80 lead with 1:43 remaining. Duncan then fired a pass to Belinelli in the right corner for a 3-pointer over Neal that gave the Spurs an 85-80 edge. "We know (Neals) a bad defender. All he wants to do is shoot," Duncan said, smiling afterward. "We took advantage of that. Gary was great tonight, actually. He played hard, played well." Neal said he knew that play was coming off an inbounds set, but Duncan simply executed it well. "Ive made a couple of 3s like that from Timmy over the 207 games I played here," Neal said. "Tim is a Hall of Famer. He made a great play. Thats what he does. Thats why the Spurs are so successful." Duncan had six assists and shot 6 for 12 from the field, including 4 of 4 in the second half. Ginobili later completed a three-point play after rolling in a left-handed layup from the right side of the rim just beyond the reach of Jefferson and Henderson to put San Antonio up 88-80. The rally helped the Spurs wipe away a second straight sluggish start at home. "Its frustrating at times that were not able to come out of the gates and play the way we want to play night in and night out," Duncan said. "To play through the ups and downs and find a way to win a game like that is good for us." Charlotte led throughout the first half, extending its cushion to 34-20 with 8:26 remaining on three free throws by Anthony Tolliver. Showing the type of ball movement the Spurs are normally known for, the Bobcats had 15 assists on 19 first-half baskets. San Antonio had only three assists early in the game, missing all but five of its first 17 shots while shooting 30 per cent. "Its hard to watch, isnt it?" Popovich said, laughing when a reporter responded that the game was ugly. "Appreciate your honesty. The turnovers are how we dug a hole for ourselves in the first half. The only thing that kept us in the first half is we hit five 3s." Charlotte built its advantage with little help from Walker, the teams second-leading scorer. He had only three points, going 1 for 8 from the field in the first half. Ginobilis 3-pointer gave the Spurs their first lead at 51-49 with 5:21 left in the third. His second 3 gave San Antonio a 64-57 advantage and brought a loud cheer from the sold-out crowd, which began buzzing in anticipation before he even released the ball. "We made too many mistakes and we got away from our defensive principles," Jefferson said. "The one thing we know about San Antonio is you have to play 48 minutes because they are not going to stop what theyre doing." NOTES: With his 12th rebound, Duncan passed Hakeem Olajuwon (13,748) for 12th on the NBAs career list. At 13,753 rebounds, Duncan is 16 shy of tying Wes Unseld for 11th. "Obviously, I watched (Olajuwon) growing up playing and played against him for a little while," Duncan said. "I respect what he did throughout his career. Its an honour." ... Neal and Duncan shook hands and hugged following a timeout with 4 minutes remaining after Duncan glared at his former teammate before giving a sly smile. ... Spurs point guard Tony Parker sat behind the teams bench as he continues to recover from a series of leg maladies that began before the All-Star break. ... Charlotte C Brenden Haywood (broken left foot) and F Jeff Taylor (ruptured right Achilles) sat out. wholesale jerseys . Chandler Stephenson added a pair of goals and Connor Gay chipped in with a single for Regina (21-17-5), which stayed in control with the first six goals of the game. cheap nfl jerseys . Louis Blues. The (14-13-4) Jets are sixth in the Central Division standings with 32 points, while the (19-6-3) Blues are second with 41 points.New York, NY - Toronto outfielder Jose Bautista has moved into the lead for all American League vote-getters in the latest balloting results for the 2014 All-Star Game. Bautista has received 2,135,223 votes to vault past Angels outfielder Mike Trout for the overall top spot. Trout had held the lead each of the past two weeks and is second overall with 1,945,170 votes. The third starting outfield spot is currently held by Torontos Melky Cabrera with 1,096,784 votes. Baltimores Adam Jones is more than 270,000 votes behind. Detroits Miguel Cabrera continues a healthy lead at first base with 1,477,420 votes, well in front of Chicago rookie Jose Abreus total of 845,059. Oakland third baseman Josh Donaldson has 1,470,544 votes and owns the widdest margin in the AL with a lead of more than 740,000 votes over Tampa Bays Evan Longoria. nfl jerseys china. New Yorks Derek Jeter still leads at shortstop with 1,376,054 votes, more than 160,000 votes in front of Chicagos Alexei Ramirez, while Seattle second baseman Robinson Cano has 1,111,880 votes and is comfortably ahead of Ian Kinsler of Detroit. Baltimore catcher Matt Wieters has 1,235,369 votes and is well ahead of New Yorks Brian McCann, while Orioles designated hitter Nelson Cruz still maintains a strong advantage over Bostons David Ortiz. The All-Star Game is scheduled for July 15 at Target Field in Minneapolis. Voting will conclude July 3. The All-Star teams will be revealed the weekend of July 5-6. ' ' ' |
