Tony Parker leads Spurs past Hawks 98-93
Big game for Parker
No Manu Ginobili? No Tim Duncan? No problem ? not with Tony Parker around.
The veteran point guard recorded his 10th double-double of the season, scoring a game-high 23 points and handing out a game-high 12 assists, and Matt Bonner chipped in 17 off the bench as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Atlanta Hawks, 98-93, Saturday night at Philips Arena. Tiago Splitter and Kawhi Leonard each had 14 for San Antonio, which won its NBA-best 14th road game.
Josh Smith led Atlanta with 21 points, while Kyle Korver added 19, and Al Horford pulled down a game- and season-high 15 rebounds. The Hawks fell to 13-7 at home, despite holding a 50-39 edge on the boards and a 13-5 edge on the glass and holding San Antonio to nearly six points below its average.
Parker was a maestro, especially in the final 12 minutes, when he scored 10 points, with a pair of assists, and set a pace that was as unpredictable in its tempo as it was unstoppable. Typical of Parker was one possession, when he took the ball in the left corner, started toward the basket, reversed himself, doing a tight 180, dribbling the ball to the top of the 3-point circle, with Atlanta's Jeff Teague in pursuit, then, jab-stepped, started left then accelerated to his right, drove down the lane and banked in a running one-hander over Atlanta's Smith high off the glass. The shot gave the Spurs an 85-75 lead with 5:25 left.
The Spurs also clamped down defensively in the final quarter, limiting Atlanta to 29.2 percent shooting (7-for-24) and 28.6 percent from three (2-for-7). The Hawks' cold spell even extended to the foul line, where they missed five of their 12 attempts. They pulled to within four points on a couple of occasions and to within three twice late in the game, but never got the opportunity to shoot for the tie.
San Antonio's second-half defense followed a first half where they shot shot 50 percent (20-for-40) and 50 percent from behind the arc (8-for-16). They'd go into the locker room up 52-42.
It was Atlanta's turn to shoot 50 percent in the third quarter, as the home team hit 11 of their 22 shots, and used a 7-0 spurt to take a 61-60 lead with 4:21 left. The lead, Atlanta's first since the opening two minutes, lasted 17 seconds, when former Hawk Boris Diaw hit a hook in the lane to give San Antonio the lead for good, kicking off an 8-0 run. Atlanta would tie the game but a DeJuan Blair jumper gave the Spurs the lead after three quarters.
In the fourth, Parker, who sat the first 3:47, came in with the game 78-75 and took over.
The Hawks, who learned earlier in the day that hot-shooting guard Lou Williams was lost for the year, with a torn ACL in his right knee, suffered another blow when guard Devin Harris had to be helped off the floor. Harris, who finished with 13 points, is believed to have a sprained left ankle and will be further evaluated in the coming days.