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San Antonio Spurs 101, New Orleans Hornets 78
New Orleans, LA Feb. 16 / Wire Reports --
Malik Rose's playing status was questionable when the Spurs arrived in New Orleans -- but then he came off the bench and
left little doubt San Antonio was going to dominate inside.
Rose scored 12 points and grabbed 15 rebounds despite a strained neck, helping the Spurs run away with a 101-78 victory over
the Hornets on Wednesday night.
``Malik was really special tonight. He made me think back and remember how he used to do that over and over and over
again,'' San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. ``His energy on the boards and running the floor, moving the basketball,
setting the picks, just being aggressive on the court was really good for us tonight. I thought he led the way for
us.''
San Antonio finished with a 51-30 rebounding advantage. The Spurs had 19 offensive rebounds -- eight by Rose -- leading to
25 second-chance points. The Spurs also outscored New Orleans inside 50-32.
``That was kind of a big thing for us, attacking the glass,'' said Tim Duncan, who led the Spurs in scoring with 19 points
despite a sore right ankle. ``Malik did a hell of a job. He came in and played some great minutes and got a bunch of boards
for us on both ends.''
The victory put San Antonio (41-12) in a tie with Phoenix for the league's best record, although Phoenix plays once more
before the All-Star break, hosting Dallas on Thursday.
Manu Ginobili had 13 points and 10 assists for the Spurs, who led by double digits for much of the second half. The Hornets
had trouble guarding him on drives, several of which he finished with graceful scoop shots and floaters.
New Orleans was within nine points after Dan Dickau spun the ball in off the glass as he crashed over the baseline late in
the third quarter. But Beno Udrih opened the fourth quarter with a 3 and Duncan added seven points in the final period as
the Spurs pulled away with little resistance.
``People think we're the best in the West and they are the worst so we're going to beat them by 30, but it's not like
that,'' Ginobili said. ``They have beaten really good teams ... so we had to be humble. We talked about that. There was a
chance that some of us would not be very aggressive and relax.''
Rookie J.R. Smith led New Orleans with a career-high 25 points on 10-of-17 shooting from the field. Dickau finished with 13
points, P.J. Brown 12 and Bostjan Nachbar 10. But New Orleans struggled at the foul line, going 14-of-23.
``They're a better team than we are and we didn't stick to our game plan as well as we would have hoped. It's tough to do
that against a good team like that,'' Dickau said. ``We didn't rebound at all out of the zone and there was a couple of
possessions where they got two offensive rebounds and that's killing 45 seconds ... and then they scored and that's really
deflating.''
Tony Parker and Rasho Nesterovic each scored 12 points for San Antonio, which has never lost a game in the New Orleans Arena
in four visits. Reserve Devin Brown scored 10 points.
The Hornets were able to stay with the Spurs through much of the first half and led 36-35 after Dickau's free throws with
2:41 left in the second period. Then Parker hit a 3, igniting a 13-4 Spurs run capped by Bruce Bowen's second of three
3-pointers on the night, giving San Antonio a 48-40 lead at halftime.
``They're a championship team and what I'd call the gold standard,'' P.J. Brown said. ``They have great chemistry and a
great system. They know what it is all about right now and we don't.''
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