Barry leads Spurs past Blazers

Manu Ginobili scored 16 points and Tony Parker added 14 points for the Spurs, who now move one game ahead of the idle Dallas Mavericks for the lead in the Southwest Division. Tim Duncan had a quiet evening, scoring only six points while grabbing seven rebounds and assisting on six for San Antonio, who have now won six of their last seven.

Juan Dixon scored a game-high 24 points while Steve Blake and Zach Randolph each added 11 for the Trailblazers, who have now dropped seven straight games.

After an ugly first quarter, the Spurs established control of the game with a 10-2 run midway through the second quarter. Ginobili and Michael Finley each hit three-pointers and Beno Udrih hit a reverse layup to put San Antonio ahead, 37-25, with 4:23 to play in the second quarter. The Spurs extended their lead to 16, 51-35, at halftime as Barry connected on five shots from long distance in the quarter.

San Antonio maintained its double-digit cushion throughout the third quarter, extending it to as much as 18 on multiple occasions, the last coming with 4:51 to play in the quarter on a Parker layup. Portland cut the lead to 12 at the end of the quarter as it scored seven of the last nine points to end the frame.

The Spurs put the game away early in the fourth quarter as they opened the last stanza with a 9-2 run, including two more treys from Barry, who hit his sixth and seventh shots from beyond the arc without a miss. The lead for San Antonio was 19 points following the burst. The Spurs extended their lead to as many as 22. Portland only got as close as 17 points the rest of the way.

Game Notes

The Spurs have won all four meetings between the two teams this season...Portland never led at any point of the game...Finley contributed 10 points off the bench for the Spurs...The Spurs shot 53.3 percent from the floor while Portland hit on only 43.1 percent of its shots.