Duncan and Spurs welcome Hawks

The Spurs were defeated by the Dallas Mavericks, 95-92, at American Airlines Center on Thursday.

Tim Duncan led the Spurs with 30 points and 17 rebounds. Rasho Nesterovic chipped in 18 points for San Antonio, which lost for just the second time in six games.

Dallas came out in the second half and increased the tempo of the contest, running up and down the floor during a 7-0 burst. Michael Finley’s 12-foot jumper two minutes into the third quarter finished off the spurt and put the Mavericks ahead 55-49.

After Duncan momentarily thwarted the Dallas run with a bucket, Steve Nash came down court and nailed a three-pointer before Finley hit another short jumper to make it a nine-point game at 60-51.

The Mavericks outscored the Spurs 27-17 and did not turn the ball over in the stanza. San Antonio, meanwhile, committed five turnovers and hit just six of 17 shots, heading into the final quarter trailing 73-64.

Seven straight points to start the fourth quarter helped Dallas blow open the contest. A jumper by Travis Best finished the spurt and gave the Mavericks a 16-point cushion.

San Antonio chipped at the deficit and closed within four on Devin Brown’s three-pointer from the corner with 49.7 seconds left to play. Following a three-point miss by the Mavericks, Duncan drove the lane for a dunk to make it 92-90.

Nash then made two from the free throw line to make it a four-point edge with 16 seconds remaining. San Antonio missed a three-point attempt on its next possession and Nash made 1-of-2 from the charity stripe to put the game out of reach. Manu Ginobili did hit a jumper at the buzzer to create the final margin.

The Spurs are 5-2 at home.

Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored a game-high 27 points with 11 rebounds to lead the Hawks to a 101-93 victory over Milwaukee at the Bradley Center on Tuesday.

Terry added 19 points and six assists for the Hawks, who snapped a nine- game losing streak in Milwaukee.

The Hawks are 3-5 as the visitor this season.

In 2002-03, the teams split two contests as each club won on its homecourt.

Overall, The Spurs have won eight of the last nine meetings between the two squads. Atlanta has lost five in a row and eight of its last nine in San Antonio.