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Tuesday, Dec. 19 8:30pm ET
Popovich winningest Spurs coach

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HOUSTON (AP) -- Gregg Popovich took the humble approach when told he had become the San Antonio Spurs' winningest coach Tuesday night after an 86-79 victory over the Houston Rockets.

Tim Duncan
San Antonio's Tim Duncan had 25 points and 15 rebounds to lead the Spurs to victory Tuesday.

"I've been fortunate to be in one place a while with some really good players," said Popovich, who is 178-124 since taking over Dec. 10, 1996. "When that happens, you can win some games. But hundreds of coaches could have done the same thing."

Tim Duncan, who scored 25 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter, didn't agree.

"That (the milestone) is great," said Duncan, who also had a game-high 15 rebounds. "I didn't even know that. He's been at one place a while and he's done a great job, especially this year.

"It's the basics that he stresses. That's the key to his success."

The Spurs trailed much of the first half before pulling ahead to stay late in the third quarter, and Popovich believed it was because of those basics.

"Our players got more aggressive and when that happens, positive things can happen on both ends of the floor," Popovich said. "I thought Terry Porter played real aggressive. He found people in the right spots.

"We finally got Tim going, but the key was our good defense and rebounding."

Houston's Rudy Tomjanovich said his team was just missing some intangibles.

"If they had come out and just kicked our butts, it would have been different. But there was an opportunity there for us and we just wilted.

"I don't know what it was. I don't have an answer. The guys have to find a way to get themselves going sometimes and they just didn't do it in the fourth quarter," Tomjanovich said.

The Rockets were playing without leading scorer Steve Francis (sprained ankle) and No. 2 scorer Cuttino Mobley was nursing a sore elbow.

"It felt terrible," said Mobley, who had 16 points on 7-of-19 shooting. "It affected my game. I was forcing shots and it hurt every time I extended my elbow.

"I probably hurt us more than I helped us. Maybe I should have sat out like Steve did. We've got so many guys hurt. It seems like as soon as one gets well, another gets hurt."

Derek Anderson added 15 points, Sean Elliott 13 and Terry Porter 10 as the Spurs beat the Rockets for the ninth consecutive time, five of them at Compaq Center. David Robinson fouled out with 2:06 to play and had only five points and seven rebounds.

Moochie Norris, making his first NBA start in place of Francis, scored a season-high 17 points, as did Hakeem Olajuwon. Maurice Taylor added 14.

With Anderson scoring seven points, San Antonio used an 18-9 run to go ahead 52-51 on a free throw by Duncan with 2:01 left in the third.

Duncan then scored six of the Spurs' first eight points in the fourth as they opened a 64-57 advantage with 9:43 remaining before a 7-0 Houston run tied it 64-64 with 8:29 to play.

The Spurs then went on a 12-2 run to open a 76-66 advantage on a 3 by Porter with 4:18 to play. Duncan's jumper with 2:57 to play gave the Spurs their biggest lead, 80-68.

Houston moved ahead 11-6 in the first six minutes of the game as Olajuwon hit his first three shots. With Norris scoring 10 points, including a 3-pointer at the buzzer, the Rockets managed to stretch that lead to 20-14 at the end of the first quarter.

The lead reached eight as Norris made the first shot of the second quarter, but the Spurs started coming back with the help of five quick points from Danny Ferry to tie the game at 28-28 with six minutes left in the half.

They took the lead on a three-pointer from Antonio Daniels with 1:07 to play in the second quarter. Mobley's breakaway slam with 21 seconds left gave the Rockets a 36-34 halftime lead.

Game notes
Francis injured his ankle against Denver on Saturday. He is day-to-day ... San Antonio is 12-3 when holding opponents to fewer than 90 points. ... Doug Moe had 177 wins as coach of the Spurs.
ALSO SEE
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RECAPS
Toronto 103
Utah 95

Atlanta 87
New York 77

LA Lakers 81
Miami 79

Indiana 90
Chicago 85

San Antonio 86
Houston 79

Detroit 89
Phoenix 84

Golden State 120
Minnesota 99

Sacramento 106
Washington 72

FROM
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Rudy Tomjanovich Official Site


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