Spurs 109, 76ers 86
SAN ANTONIO -- The Spurs looked like a team that just got a break. The Sixers looked like a team that needed one.
At the end of a grueling eight-game road trip, including four games in the last five nights, the road-weary Sixers lost to the Spurs 109-86 on Saturday night at the AT&T Center.
The Spurs had a similarly difficult period, playing the same four-in-five nights kind of stretch, but they went 3-1. They predictably fell in the last game of that marathon against the Knicks on Thursday night in New York. But they were coming off a day off Friday.
The Sixers were coming off a thrashing from Oklahoma City.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich quipped before the game: "Philadelphia) doesn't have a rodeo, do they?" He was referring to the Spurs' famous spring rodeo road trip.
Tony Parker scored 20 points, Manu Ginobili added 19 and Tim Duncan had 16 for the Spurs, who have won eight of their last nine games.
The Sixers are headed in the opposite direction, losing five of their last six.
Nick Young hit the first shot of the game and Philadelphia led 2-0. The Sixers never led again.
Spencer Hawes led Philly with 22 points off the bench.
NOTES: In the third quarter, Tim Duncan overtook Adrian Dantley for the 24th spot for NBA career scoring list. ... G/F Stephen Jackson was ruled out with an ankle he sprained when he ran into a waitress in Thursday's game in New York. He'll probably miss one more game. "It's maddening," Popovich said before the game, referring to the tight setup of NBA arenas. "It's an accident waiting to happen. It was a mayoral mishap," which was a smug reference to the fact that the waitress was serving New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the time. ... Sixers coach Doug Collins said of his team's road trip: "I feel for our guys. It's been a brutal trip."
