Duncan leads surging Spurs to 10th straight victory

Duncan had 29 points with 12 rebounds and the surging Spurs rolled to their 10th consecutive victory by beating the visiting New Jersey Nets 81-70 on Tuesday night.

 Despite winning for the 13th time in the last 14 games to remain per centage points ahead of the LA Lakers atop the Western Conference, Duncan didn't think his club had a very good outing.

 "Defensively we weren't very good. Our focus was a little down," he said "We didn't shoot the ball well, but we did well enough to win the game."

   Argentine Manu Ginobili scored just 12 points and Frenchman Tony Parker added 11 for the Spurs (42-17), who overcame an icy 33.9 field goal shooting performance with a strong defensive effort.

 Vince Carter netted 19 points, Marcus Williams added 16 off the bench for the Nets (26-34) who connected on 37 per cent from the field en route to their 11th consecutive loss to the defending NBA Champions.

 "They won the game shooting 33 per cent, that's how good they are," Nets head coach Lawrence Frank said. "Those guys are the gold standard. They make you grind it out and they frustrate the heck out of you.

 "We gave a very good effort, but we could not put the ball in the hole and Duncan was a monster."

   After dropping the opener of the home-and-home series 93-83 on Sunday, the Nets made 10-of-15 shots and led by seven after the opening quarter.

 However, Duncan scored 13 of his 18 first-half points in the second stanza, the Spurs forced the Nets into six-of 23 shooting and outscored them 27-13 for a 44-37 halftime advantage.

 "That second quarter was the separator," Frank added. "We just couldn't make shots."

   The Spurs continued to pull away, and Duncan's dunk with 7:12 remaining in the third quarter made it 53-38. The hosts carried a 63-51 advantage into the final frame and maintained a double digit the rest of the way.

 "They're not pretty the way they play but they get it done," said Nets new point guard Devin Harris, who finished with just eight points in his third game since being acquired from Dallas as part of the Jason Kidd trade.

 Elsewhere    LA Lakers 117, Sacramento Kings 105    Kobe Bryant scored 17 of his 34 points in the final six minutes, Spain's Pau Gasol added 31, carrying the visiting Lakers to their 12th victory in 13 games. Kevin Martin and Ron Artest scored 23 points apiece for the Kings (27-33) losers in five of their last six games.

 Phoenix Suns 97, Portland Trail Blazers 92    Amare Stoudemire scored 22 points, Steve Nash added 19 and the visiting Suns held off a late charge to trim the Trail Blazers for just their second win in the last six games. Brandon Roy scored 25 points for Portland (31-30) who trailed by as many as 23.

 Golden State Warriors 135, Atlanta Hawks 118    Baron Davis tossed in 35 points, Stephen Jackson had 29 and the Warriors buried 17-three-pointers to ring up their highest scoring effort of the season. Joe Johnson had 38 points for the Hawks (24-34) while Josh Smith had 20 and 11 rebounds.

 Detroit Pistons 100, Seattle SuperSonics 97    Tayshaun Prince scored 24 points, Chauncey Billups had 20, including two game-sealing free throws with 8.5 seconds remaining, as the Pistons beat the visiting SuperSonics for the seventh straight time. Earl Watson led Seattle (16-44) with 23 points while Chris Wilcox and Kevin Durant added 20 apiece.

 Orlando Magic 102, Toronto Raptors 87    Turkey's Hedo Turkoglu scored 24 points, Dwight Howard had 19 with 14 rebounds, and the Magic sent the visiting Raptors to their third straight loss. T.J. Ford led Toronto (32-27) with 20 points, Anthony Parker had 19 and nine rebounds.

 Charloitte Bobcats 109, Timberwolves 89    Jason Richardson scored 25 points, Emeka Okafor had 19 with 11 rebounds, helping the Bobcats break a nine-game road slide. Al Jefferson led the Western Conference-worst Timberwolves (12-47) with 18 points and 11 rebounds.

 Chicago Bulls 112, Memphis Grizzlies 97    Luol Deng scored 21 points while Drew Gooden had 21 with 14 rebounds as the Bulls stretched the Grizzlies' losing skid to nine. Kyle Lowry scored 24 for Memphis (14-46) losers in 15 of its last 16 contests.

By Paul Levine, dpa