Spurs spoil coaching ’debut’ of former mate

Tony Parker netted 17 points to help the Spurs to their fourth straight win and 10th in 12 tries. Beno Udrih also had 16 points of the bench. At 12-3, San Antonio is off to its best start since the 1999-00 squad opened the season 14-3.

Mavericks head coach Don Nelson allowed assistant Avery Johnson to run the show for this one, but the team did not respond. Johnson, who spent the bulk of his playing days in San Antonio, including the 1999 NBA Championship team, is being groomed as Nelson’s eventual successor and will coach five or six games this season.

Dirk Nowitzki paced Dallas with 21 points and 13 boards while Josh Howard scored 17. Marquis Daniels chipped in 15 points and six rebounds in a losing cause.

"It felt great, you are just mad that you lose," Johnson said. "It doesn’t sit well with me. We will bounce back and watch some film."

The Spurs controlled the tempo early on behind Parker’s 10 points in the opening quarter. Udrih’s jumper at the first-period buzzer made it 26-14, leaving Dallas to face an uphill battle the rest of the way.

The Mavericks finally made some headway in the third quarter, closing out the stanza with a 17-6 run to get within 69-65.

But the fourth quarter belonged to San Antonio and Brown. His three-point play in the opening minute put the Spurs up 74-65.

A steal by Manu Ginobili resulted in another three-point play for Brown with 7:20 remaining that made it 87-71, San Antonio’s biggest lead to that point. Brown’s dunk less than 30 seconds later pushed the cushion to 90-73 and it was smooth sailing from there.

"We have to give them credit," said Mavs guard Jerry Stackhouse, who missed seven of his eight shots for only six points in 35 minutes. "They came out early and made shots and got us back on our heels. From there, it was an uphill battle all night."

San Antonio shot 47.5 percent despite shooting only 1-of-11 from three-point territory.