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  Friday, Dec. 17 8:30pm ET
Duncan, fouls make life easy for Spurs
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME FLOW

SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Tim Duncan has had an easy time against the overmatched Boston Celtics frontline this season.

Eric Williams
Jerome Kersey and San Antonio made Eric Williams and the Celtics look small with a blowout win Friday.

Duncan scored 22 of his 30 points in the second half as the Spurs beat the Celtics 103-94 Friday night. He had 31 points and 15 rebounds in a 121-98 victory at Boston on Nov. 24.

"The guys played great defense tonight. It was one of our better games," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "We kept people off the free throw line and made them make jump shots, rather than getting an easy layup. I'm very pleased with that."

The Spurs, who have won three straight games, connected on 42 of 54 free throw attempts in a foul-plagued game that saw Boston commit 37 fouls. Eric Williams, Tony Battie and Calbert Cheaney all fouled out and Antoine Walker was ejected with a little more than five minutes remaining.

"We had some easy jumpers that would not go down for us tonight that we should have made," Boston coach Rick Pitino said. "We struggled to score tonight."

San Antonio held a double-digit lead for the entire second half until a 16-6 Boston run against the Spurs reserves forced Popovich to put Duncan and center David Robinson back into the game with 1:13 to play. Duncan hit four free throws in the final minute to seal the win.

"Boston had nothing to lose," Duncan said. "We put a lot of our guys in an odd situation. We had a big lead and they were pressing."

The Spurs' biggest lead was 19 on three occasions before Boston fought back behind Dana Barros, who led the team with 18 points. Battie added 16, Walter McCarty 15 and Adrian Griffin 13.

"It was a rough night," said Williams. "We had to battle back in the second half. They were able to hold us off at the end so you have to give them credit."

Boston lost its fourth in a row and for the eighth time in nine road games this season after keeping it close until San Antonio went on a 26-9 run in the last four minutes of the first half and first four of the third period.

Chucky Brown had 13 for San Antonio while Robinson and Mario Elie added 12, although Elie did not play in the fourth quarter and Robinson played just 73 seconds.

Duncan carried San Antonio in the first half as the only player for either team in double figures, including 10 of 12 at the foul line while Boston shot only four as a team. Duncan also finished with 16 points.

Walker, Boston's leading scorer with Paul Pierce on the injured list, had a miserable night, scoring just eight points and was 2-for-13 from the floor. Walker entered the game with an 18.9 average.

Walker and San Antonio's Malik Rose were ejected with 5:23 left in the game when they began jawing at each as they went down the floor.

Game notes
The Celtics lost their ninth straight game in San Antonio, where they have not won since Valentine's Day, 1990. None of the current Boston players were in the NBA then while four Spurs were in the league, none in a San Antonio uniform. San Antonio is the oldest team in the league with 10 players in their ninth year or longer. Boston has two. ... San Antonio has now won 24 of its last 25 in the Alamodome. ... Boston center Vitaly Potapenko sat out his third straight game with a right calf strain.
 


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