Minus Parker, Spurs cool off Suns
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Phoenix, AZ (SportsNetwork.com) - In the absence of a star player, it was business as usual for the San Antonio Spurs on Wednesday night.
Manu Ginobili scored a team-high 24 points off the bench and Tim Duncan added 17 points with 13 rebounds to lead the Spurs, who were without Tony Parker, to a 108-101 win over the Phoenix Suns.
Kawhi Leonard and Patty Mills scored 14 and 12 points, respectively, for San Antonio.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}San Antonio has now won 8-of-9 against Phoenix and four straight at US Airways Center.
Channing Frye netted 22 points, Goran Dragic deposited 18 and Miles Plumlee scored 13 with 13 rebounds for Phoenix, which had a five-game winning streak snapped.
"We played defense in the second half," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. "We gave up 58 points in the first half and we can't win games like that because we're not going to score 100 and 155 and that sort of thing."
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Frye scored 12 of the Suns' first 19 points to help the hosts jump out to a 19-12 lead with 6:49 left in the first.
Later in the stanza, Phoenix pushed the lead to 10, 29-19, after a Markieff Morris jumper. The Spurs, however, trailed 34-29 at the end of one.
San Antonio took its first lead of the game off a Leonard three with 4:23 to go in the first half for a 46-45 lead. The one-point margin held at halftime with the Spurs leading 59-58.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}A Boris Diaw layup with 2:12 remaining in the third capped a 9-2 run to give San Antonio an 82-73 lead, but the Spurs would relinquish the lead midway through the fourth quarter.
Plumlee finished off a 10-0 run with a layup to give the Suns a 95-93 lead with 5:10 left in the contest.
Ginobili then tied the game with a tip-in off a Mills miss, then followed that with a triple with just under three minutes left.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The Argentinean spearheaded a 15-6 run to end the game.
When speaking of San Antonio, Suns head coach Jeff Hornacek said, "They're not (20-5) for no reason. These guys are a good team, it doesn't matter if guys are out of the lineup."
Game Notes
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The last win at home vs. San Antonio for the Suns came on April 13, 2011 ... The Spurs are 2-0 this season against Phoenix ... The Suns made seven 3- pointers, which tied a franchise record by extending their streak to 16 consecutive games with at least seven threes made ... The Spurs' bench outscored the Suns reserves 58-29 ... San Antonio is back in action Thursday at Golden State ... Phoenix travels to Denver on Friday.