Duncan lifts Spurs to Game 3 win over Nuggets

Tony Parker had 21 points and Manu Ginobili tallied 19 for San Antonio, which grabbed a 2-1 lead in the best-of-seven series. Michael Finley finished with 16 points, going 5-of-7 from three-point range, and Robert Horry had 10 points for the Spurs, who missed just one of their 14 free throws.

Carmelo Anthony had 28 points and 12 rebounds for the Nuggets, who also got 20 points from Allen Iverson. Nene contributed 18 points for Denver, which lost Game 2 on Wednesday.

The Spurs won by hitting 9-of-21 shots from beyond the arc and overcame being outrebounded by the Nuggets. Denver, which held a 46-41 edge on the boards, had three players with at least 10 in Anthony, Marcus Camby (10) and Eduardo Najera (10).

"We played pretty good defense," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "I thought that Carmelo got away from us. I thought we were really poor on the boards, but our team defense in general I guess was pretty good. Rebounding-wise we just got murdered."

Game 4 is scheduled for Monday night at the Pepsi Center.

The Spurs led 75-67 going into the fourth quarter and they quickly widened the margin to 10 points at 79-69 on Fabrice Oberto’s layup with 9:27 left. The Nuggets closed within five a few times, but at each spot the Spurs had an answer.

Camby hit two free throws with 1:04 remaining to get the Nuggets within 92-87, but then with the shot clock running down, Horry, in the playoffs for a 15th straight year, nailed a jumper from the left corner with the shot clock running down. That boosted the Spurs to a 94-87 cushion with 42.8 seconds remaining.

"Horry, he hit some tough ones," Iverson said. "The shot he hit late was real tough. A couple guys hit shots like that. Finley hit a couple of shots with a hand right in his face."

A dunk by J.R. Smith and a layup by Anthony made it 94-91 with 7.8 seconds to go, but Ginobili sealed San Antonio’s victory by draining a pair of free throws with 4.5 seconds left.

Iverson was limited to one point in the fourth quarter.

The Nuggets held a 25-22 lead after the opening quarter, but the Spurs’ defense stiffened in the second, limiting Denver to 15 points. Finley’s three- pointer gave the visitors a 34-33 edge midway through the period and it was 43-40 Spurs at the half.

Most of the third was close before the Spurs scored eight in a row for a 72-64 advantage. Horry and Finley hit back-to-back threes during the spurt, and Horry nailed another from beyond the arc for the final points of the third.

Game Notes

Each team shot 43 percent...Ginobili went 10-of-11 at the foul line...San Antonio has faced the Nuggets, on five separate occasions in their previous postseason history, and the Spurs won four of those five series and are 18-6 all-time against the Nuggets, including this season in the playoffs. The only series that the Spurs dropped to the Nuggets in postseason play was the 1985 first round...San Antonio had lost three straight Game 3s in the postseason...The last time the Spurs lost in the first round of the playoffs was in 2000.