Ginobili, Spurs blitz Nuggets
SAN ANTONIO, Texas — Manu Ginobili hit 5-of-7 threepointers and his 20 points led the San Antonio Spurs to a 126-100 rout of the Denver Nuggets on Saturday night.
The Spurs, bouncing back from a home loss to New York Friday night, shot 53 percent from the field, and 59 percent from behind the 3-point arc (16of-27). They improved to 8-2, and remain a halfgame behind Memphis in the Southwest Division.
DeJuan Blair added 19 points and eight rebounds, and four others finished in double figures as the Spurs, who took a 38-15 lead after one quarter.
Danilo Gallinari had 15 points for the Nuggets (4-6), who will bring a three-game losing streak into FedEx Forum for Monday’s night’s game against the Grizzlies.
OTHER GAMES
Mavericks 103, Cavaliers 95 at Cleveland: Former Grizzly O.J. Mayo scored 19 points and Dallas used a pair of 9- 0 runs in the fourth quarter to defeat Cleveland.
Second-year guard Kyrie Irving, who left the game briefly in the third with a finger injury, led Cleveland with 26 points.
Heat 97, Suns 88 at Phoenix: Chris Bosh scored 24 points on 9-of-11 shooting and LeBron James, who missed shootaround with flulike symptoms, added 21 as Miami closed a sixgame road trip with the win.
Markieff Morris led Phoenix with 16 points.
Clippers 101, Bulls 80 at Los Angeles: Blake Griffin scored 12 of his 26 points in the final six minutes and grabbed 10 rebounds, as Los Angeles won its fifth straight.
Reserve Jamal Crawford scored 17 of his 22 points in the second quarter for the Clippers (7-2), off to their best start since 2005- 06.
Celtics 107, Raptors 89 at Boston: Rajon Rondo, out in Thursday’s loss at Brooklyn with an ankle sprain, tied his season high with 20 assists, and Jason Terry scored 20 points as Boston routed Toronto.
Andrea Bargnani and John Lucas led Toronto with 15 points apiece.
Bucks 117, Hornets 113 at Milwaukee: Guards Monta Ellis and Brandon Jennings each scored 22 points on 8-of-16 shooting for Milwaukee.
Anthony Davis had 28 points and 11 rebounds and Ryan Anderson 20 for New Orleans.
Jazz 83, Wizards 76 at Washington: Utah’s Al Jefferson scored 21 points and Washington became the second team in NBA history to go 0-8 in consecutive seasons. Charlotte’s bench finished with 31 points.
SPOTLIGHT
Conley had just two assists and those come in the fourth quarter. This was clearly a night when the Griz needed him to control the tempo and score. The pace got away from the Griz, but Conley made shots. He converted seven of 12 field goals, including a clutch 3-pointer from 32 feet as the shot clock expired with 3:29 left. The basket gave the Griz an 86-75 lead.
THE OTHER GUYS
Byron Mullens led the Bobcats with 18 points, but it was Kemba Walker’s 17 points that steered them toward a competitive finish. Walker got the Bobcats back in the game when he scored 11 straight points over nearly four minutes early in the fourth.
THAT’S WHAT HE SAID
“We found out a lot about ourselves with different kinds of competition and having to play different ways to win.” – Gay, reflecting on the past week.
OUTSIDE THE BOXSCORE
Bobcats coach Mike Dunlap delivered high praise for Marc Gasol as the league’s best passing big man. Dunlap compared Gasol to former Portland Trail Blazers great Arvydas Sabonis.
“He holds that ball like it’s an olive and he can send that ball anywhere he wants,” Dunlap said.
Gasol had seven assists and is averaging 4.6 per game.
MISCELLANY
Griz rookie Tony Wroten arrived in Charlotte with the team but returned to Memphis just hours before the game because of a death in his family. … Ben Gordon returned to the Bobcats after missing the last two games for “personal reasons.” … Former Griz forward Hakim Warrick made his Bobcats debut. He was acquired recently in a trade with New Orleans for Matt Carroll.