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Home-loving Spurs swat Hornets 93-83 The NBA-leading San Antonio Spurs weren't supposed to have this much trouble with the worst team in the league. The New Orleans Hornets overcame a punchless start to draw within two baskets of the Spurs after three quarters.
But the Spurs opened the fourth with an 8-0 run and went on to a 93-83 victory that improved their home record to 23-1.
"The Hornets played really tough tonight," said Tim Duncan, who scored 12 points and had 14 rebounds for San Antonio. "Byron Scott had them playing hard and they never gave up the entire game."
Scott, 8-35 in his first year as New Orleans coach, said his team held its own against the Spurs (36-10) most of the night.
"We were just kind of shell-shocked at first, I think, but then we settled down and played right with these guys," he said.
Tony Parker finished with 23 points and had 10 assists for San Antonio, which will play its next seven games on the road. Manu Ginobili had 17 points and Brent Barry added 14.
San Antonio was far from overpowering down the stretch.
The Spurs missed six of seven attempts to open the fourth and had only three baskets in the first 9 minutes of the period.
New Orleans, however, was worse. The Hornets missed their first 10 shots, four of them layup. Their first points of the fourth came on a 16-foot jumper by P.J. Brown at 6:11 that cut San Antonio's lead to 81-71.
On top of that, they committed five quick fouls that put the Spurs in the bonus for the last 8 minutes of the game.
"Giving them the bonus so early kind of put us on our heels, not wanting to foul," New Orleans' Dan Dickau said. "When you do that, you give up the penetration so much easier. ... You can't do that against the Spurs."
The Hornets got it down to 81-75 on a Dickau jumper, but a dunk by Robert Horry started another burst that returned the Spurs' lead to double digits.
"The defense got us through," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
Dickau, who went to the bench with two fouls in the game's first 2 minutes, led the Hornets with 16 points. J.R. Smith scored 13, and Lee Nailon and P.J. Brown each contributed 12.
The Spurs had a 10-0 lead less than 90 seconds into the game, with Parker and Ginobili each hitting 3-pointers. San Antonio scored 33 points in the first, a season high.
Parker scored 10 points and had five of his assists in the opening quarter.
San Antonio's first-half lead grew to as many as 14 early in the second before the Hornets started getting defensive stops and drawing closer.
A 3-pointer by Dickau pulled New Orleans to 50-48 with 35 seconds left in the half. Barry made two free throws and Dickau one to finish the scoring before the break.
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