'Death Row' hands another loss to 76ers
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Cleveland's Anderson Varejao (17) shoots inside against Los Angeles' Reggie Evans in the second quarter Wednesday in Cleveland. The Cavaliers upended the Clippers, 99-92.
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Of all the impressive numbers on Tony Parker's stat sheet, perhaps the most eye-popping was zero fouls.
Parker scored 37 points, Gary Neal added 18 off the bench and the visiting San Antonio Spurs beat the Philadelphia 76ers, 100-90, in a matchup of division leaders.
Tim Duncan had 16 points and 11 rebounds and Tiago Splitter scored 15 for the Southwest Division-leading Spurs.
Parker shot 12 for 24, made all 13 of his free throws and handed out eight assists. He played 38 minutes and never got whistled for a foul. "I play team defense," Parker said with a smile.
Lou Williams led Philadelphia with 22 points. Andre Iguodala had 17 and Thaddeus Young scored 16.
The Atlantic Division-leading 76ers fell to 4-2 during a seven-game stretch that coach Doug Collins termed "Death Row" because of the quality of their opponents.
After building a strong record early in the season against lesser competition, they beat Orlando, Chicago, Atlanta (on the road) and the Los Angeles Lakers. Their other loss was at home to Miami.
"This is a team that when you make a mistake, they will make you pay dearly for it," Collins said. "I have great admiration for them. Gregg Popovich is one of the best coaches in all of sports. They've done a great job without [Manu] Ginobili."
The Spurs are a much different team on the road. But they outplayed the 76ers throughout to improve to 5-8 away from home.
Down 83-71 near the midpoint of the fourth quarter, the 76er scored seven consecutive points and had the crowd rocking after Jrue Holiday's 3-pointer. But Neal answered with his fourth 3-pointer of the night and his free throw a minute later after Williams got a technical foul gave the Spurs an 89-80 lead.
Williams hit a 3 to cut the deficit to 95-90 with 1:46 left. But Parker nailed a jumper and Philadelphia couldn't get any closer.
"Just one of those games everything was working for me," Parker said. "My shot was feeling good and everything was going."
Starting center Spencer Hawes didn't play for the 76ers. Hawes had missed 10 games with an Achilles injury before returning to play the previous two. Elton Brand returned to the lineup after sitting out two games with a sprained thumb, and had 11 points and 13 rebounds.
The 76ers missed Hawes' presence in the middle as the Spurs repeatedly drove to the basket for layups and finished with 54 points in the paint.
"They share the ball and Tony's been special," Popovich said. "He's playing unselfish basketball and good defense."
The 76ers committed just four turnovers to help them overcome a 55-30 rebounding deficit in a 95-90 win against Kobe Bryant and the Lakers on Monday night. They had four turnovers in the first 11 minutes against the Spurs, and 10 in the game.
Matt Bonner's 3-pointer capped a 17-6 run and gave San Antonio its biggest lead, 71-59, to that point. Williams hit a pair of 3s of his own and the 76ers got within 75-67 after three quarters.
Neal, who averages 8.5 points per game, had 12 in the first quarter on three 3-pointers and 4-for-4 shooting -- all in the last half of the period.
"He hurt us early and we can't let that happen," Iguodala said. "We have to be more alert. We have to keep aware of guys who can hurt us and try and not let them get good looks."
• Cavaliers 99, Clippers 92: Ramon Sessions scored a season-high 24 points as a last-minute replacement for injured rookie Kyrie Irving, and Antawn Jamison scored 27, leading Cleveland to a victory against visiting Los Angeles. Sessions didn't know he was starting until moments before the game when the Cavaliers diagnosed Irving with a concussion.
• Magic 102, Heat 89: Dwight Howard had 25 points and 24 rebounds, Ryan Anderson scored 27 points and host Orlando hit 17 3-pointers in a victory against Miami. Anderson had five 3s and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead Orlando. Howard posted his 20th double-double of the season.
• Knicks 107, Wizards 93: Jeremy Lin had 23 points and a career-high 10 assists, and Tyson Chandler scored 25 points and had 11 rebounds to lead visiting New York to its third consecutive win. Chandler, a 10-year NBA veteran, finished two points short of his career high.
• Bucks 105, Raptors 99: Carlos Delfino scored a season-high 25 points against his former team, Drew Gooden had 20 points and 14 rebounds and visiting Milwaukee snapped a three-game losing streak by beating Toronto. Mike Dunleavy scored 16 of his 18 points in the second quarter and Stephen Jackson had 17 as the Bucks won for the seventh time in eight games against Toronto.
First Published February 9, 2012 12:00 am
