i TV Pinoy

Source: AFP,

SAN ANTONIO, Texas – Argentina's Manu Ginobili scored 22 points and Gary Neal came off the bench to add 22 more as the San Antonio Spurs stretched their win streak to 10 games by beating Denver 109-103.


The Nuggets lost while playing without star playmaker Carmelo Anthony, who was absent due to a death in his family. His return timetable is uncertain. Denver's next game is on Christmas Day at Oklahoma City.

"It brings us down to earth," Nuggets coach George Karl said. "Basketball isn't the most important thing."

The Spurs, who improved their NBA-best record to 25-3, are two triumphs shy of matching their longest win streak of the year. The Nuggets fell to 16-11, sixth in the Western Conference.

Ty Lawson and J.R. Smith each scored 22 points to lead Denver while Kenyon Martin made his season debut after missing 26 games after knee surgery, scoring eight points in 17 minutes.

Richard Jefferson scored 16 points for the Spurs while Brazilian rookie Tiago Splitter contributed 12 points and nine rebounds.

The Nuggets led 89-80 entering the fourth quarter but Denver connected on only two shots in the last five and a half minutes and connected on only 17 percent of their shots in the final period.

"It was a huge fourth quarter," Ginobili said. "I'm still kind of in shock by the way we won it."

Denver missed a chance to avenge a loss last week to the Spurs in which they had appeared to win on an Anthony basket with one-third of a second to play, but the basket was waived off by officials.

Anthony, 26, is averaging 24 points and 8.3 rebounds this season but has been the subject of trade rumors for months after rejecting a three-year offer worth 65 million dollars from the Nuggets.

Matt Bonner added 13 points for San Antonio, which also had 11 points and a game-high nine assists from French guard Tony Parker and nine points and nine rebounds from Tim Duncan.