San Antonio, TX (Sports Network) - Tim Duncan delivered a monster effort after
a one-game layoff, and the San Antonio Spurs held on for a 92-91 victory over
the Dallas Mavericks to clinch a playoff spot. Duncan, held out of Tuesday's
startling 107-83 loss at Northwest Division bottom-feeder Minnesota with a
sore left knee, racked up 28 points and 19 rebounds to lead the way as the
Western Conference front-running Spurs secured a postseason berth for a 16th
consecutive season. Gary Neal added 16 points and Kawhi Leonard, also rested
during Tuesday's setback, had 12 along with six rebounds for San Antonio. The
Mavericks entered the contest having matched a season high with four straight
wins, and nearly made it five after scoring seven unanswered points to pull
within 92-91 in the closing seconds. Dallas got the ball back with a chance to
prevail, but Vince Carter's 3-point try rimmed out at the buzzer. Dirk
Nowitzki finished with 21 points and 11 rebounds for the Mavs, with Darren
Collison netting 12 points in the setback.
The Sports Network