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Tony Parker had 20 points and handed out five assists Friday as San Antonio beat Memphis 102-86 for a ninth straight NBA victory. |
Tiago Splitter added 17 points and seven rebounds for the Spurs. Manu Ginobili netted 15 points to go with seven assists and five rebounds as San Antonio halted the Grizzlies’ four-game winning streak.
Mike Conley scored 28 points and had four steals, while Zach Randolph had 16 points and 10 rebounds for the Grizzlies.
But Memphis lost Marc Gasol to an apparent sprained left knee early in the second quarter.
The Spanish center, last season’s NBA Defensive Player of the Year, appeared to hurt his knee under the Spurs basket with 10:24 left in the second quarter. He went to the locker room and the Grizzlies said his injury would be evaluated further on Saturday.
Even without him, the Grizzlies erased a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit to pull within 79-78.
But the Spurs responded with an 8-0 scoring run to regain control of the contest.
French point guard Parker, who scored 11 points in the final frame, netted the first six points of the surge and Tim Duncan’s basket gave the Spurs an 87-78 lead with 4:37 to play.
The Grizzlies didn’t threaten again. The Spurs, who fell to the Miami Heat in last season’s NBA finals, have little time to rest before going for their 10th straight win.
Elsewhere, the Chicago Bulls are holding their collective breath after their franchise player, Derrick Rose, suffered another knee injury Friday night.
After having his right knee buckle as tried to get back on defence, Rose left late in the third quarter against the Portland Trail Blazers, who went on to win. Rose limped to the sidelines, but had to be helped to the locker room to get the knee examined.
The former National Basketball Association MVP is scheduled to have an MRI in Los Angeles on Saturday.
“He has pain and felt like he couldn’t push off on his right knee,” Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said. “It was not a contact play, but a change of direction play.”
If there is a silver lining, the injury is to his right knee, not the surgically repaired left one that kept him out the entire 2012-13 season.
But Thibodeau doesn’t even want to think about what losing Rose would mean to the rest of the Bulls’ season.
“I don’t want to speculate what it is or what it might be,” he said. “I know how much work he’s put into his rehab and I know what type of person he is. I feel for him because of all the things he’s gone through and what he does means to our team.”
With Rose out of the picture, the red-hot Trail Blazers pushed on for a win.
Wesley Matthews poured in 28 points, including the go-ahead jumper down the stretch, Damian Lillard added 20, allowing the team to overcome a 21-point first-half deficit for their ninth consecutive victory, 98-95 over the visiting Bulls.
Rose left with a season-high-tying 20 points, Luol Deng contributed 15 with 14 rebounds for the Bulls, who dropped two in a row after getting outscored in the pivotal 34-12 third quarter.
“We played well in the first half, but in the third quarter we let it get away from us,” Thibodeau explained.
