San Antonio Spurs Team Report - December 9

(Basketball News) - Manu Ginobili scored 13 straight points down the stretch and finished with a team-high 26, as the San Antonio Spurs downed the Chicago Bulls, 96-82, Monday at the United Center.

Tim Duncan chipped in 17 points and 14 rebounds for the Spurs, who have won three straight. Rasho Nesterovic also netted 17 points, while Tony Parker added 13 in the win.

Trailing by a 38-31 score at the intermission, San Antonio opened the third quarter on a 16-4 run for a 47-42 lead. Parker’s basket ended the surge almost four minutes into the quarter. Nesterovic later converted a three-point play to push the Spurs’ lead to 54-47. San Antonio then led 61-56 after three.

Each team battled in the fourth quarter and Chicago grabbed a slim 75-74 lead on Eddy Curry’s three-point play with 5:18 to go. Curry had a nice block on Duncan before giving the Bulls the lead.

Ginobili later buried consecutive three-pointers to give San Antonio an 81-76 lead with less than four minutes to go. Ginobili then drained his third in a row to push the lead to eight points. His 13th straight point later made it 88-78 with less than three minutes to go and the Spurs coasted from there.

San Antonio has won six straight and 10 of the last 11 meetings versus the Bulls.

The Spurs are off until Wednesday when they host Rasheed Wallace and the Portland Trail Blazers.