SAN ANTONIO, Dec. 31 (UPI) — Manu Ginobili sank five 3-pointers and DeJuan Blair provided a double-double Saturday in the San Antonio Spurs’ 104-89 win over Utah.

Ginobili finished with 23 points, while Blair added 17 and 10 rebounds for the Spurs, who logged their third win in four games to start the season.

Tony Parker contributed 14 points and eight assists.

The Spurs got 12 points and nine rebounds from Tim Duncan in the victory.

The Jazz were led by Al Jefferson’s 21 points and 11 rebounds.

Josh Howard added a spark off the bench with 18 points and seven boards, but it wasn’t enough for Utah.

SAN ANTONIO — What do the Jazz need to do in order to win, then? Keep Al Jefferson out of the game?

Following a three-point win over Philadelphia Friday night, Utah reverted back to the same poor play it had in its first two games of the year with the Los Angeles Lakers and Denver, and shot below 40 percent for the second time in four contests (including 2-of-16 from the 3-point line) in getting hammered, 104-89, by the San Antonio Spurs Saturday night in Texas.

Jefferson returned to the lineup after sitting out against the Sixers at EnergySolutions Arena.

GUARDS: Devin Harris continues to turn in sub-par performances. He scored eight points on just 2-of-8 shooting, while dishing out just three assists. Curiously, he shared time with Earl Watson, who was equally bad in going just 2-of-9 from the floor with no assists.

Raja Bell has yet to play great in any game, going scoreless in three attempts in 17 minutes Saturday, while C.J. Miles returned to inconsistency by scoring seven points on just 2-of-7 shooting. Meanwhile, San Antonio shooting guard Manu Ginobili was nearly flawless in scoring nearly as many points (23) as he logged minutes (24), while going 9-of-10 from the field. He simply ran around, shot over and backcut the listless Jazz guards whenever he actually was in the game. Really, no Jazz guard hardly played well at all. GRADE: D-

FORWARDS: Paul Millsap scored eight points on 4-of-7 shooting with seven rebounds, but he really needs more shot attempts. Derrick Favors gave a mediocre performance in 23 minutes in his first effort off the bench this season, while Gordon Hayward probably gave his worst performance of the young season, going just 1-of-9 for four points. He tallied four assists and three rebounds. Former all-star Josh Howard scored 18 points, but it came on 6-of-16 shooting. Future Spurs hall-of-famer Tim Duncan was limited to a 4-of-13 effort. GRADE: C-

CENTERS: Jefferson did return with a decent offensive game in scoring 21 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. He and rookie Enes Kanter allowed DeJuan Blair to score 17 points on just eight field goal attempts. Kanter’s two rebounds mark the lowest rebounding game of his four-game NBA career. It remains to be seen if the Jazz will miss Mehmet Okur. GRADE: B-

BENCH: You know when you’re in trouble when Howard’s 6-of-16 effort leads the bench attack. Overall, the reserves shot just 16-of-43 from the field in going just 1-of-8 from the 3-point line. The saving grace? The Jazz bench outscored the San Antonio reserves 48-30. GRADE: C

SAN ANTONIO — A fan sitting behind press row at the AT&T Center shared a loud mouthful of free advice with the Utah Jazz on Saturday night.

“Put in Hornacek!”

That option, of course, hasn’t been available for years. Now an assistant coach, Jeff Hornacek has different game-time responsibilities these days anyway.

But even without good knees and with his suit and dressy loafers on, the former Jazz sharpshooter’s touch would’ve come in handy in this 104-89 blowout loss to San Antonio.

Of course, it would’ve been even more helpful for the Jazz if “Take out Ginobili!” had been shouted out and then adhered to by Spurs coach Gregg Popovich.

Manu Ginobili hit a sizzling 9-for-10 from the field, sank 5 of 6 3-pointers and finished with 23 points.

“He is who he is in this league,” Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin said. “He’s an All-Star. He can score. You want to make him work hard for everything.”

Oops.

The Argentine Assassin single-handedly turned this into a rout in the second quarter when he scored eight straight against a Jazz bench that got lost on rotations, allowing for back-to-back wide-open treys for Ginobili.

The Manu moment continued as he dropped 14 points and the Jazz dropped their heads in the period, giving the Spurs a double-digit lead they never came close to relinquishing.

“We lost a little bit of our zest. I thought our energy level was pretty good up until that point,” Corbin said. “They made a run and we just didn’t respond to it.”

As a result, the Jazz, still trying to find who they are between their youth and veterans, were clobbered on someone else’s court for the third time in five nights.

Any momentum picked up in Friday’s exciting 102-99 home win over Philadelphia fell out of the charter somewhere between the Wasatch Front and the Alamo. It’s looking like inconsistency could be the major theme of the season.

“It’s going to be an up and down for a while,” Corbin said, “until we get more familiar with each other.”

At least the 3-1 Spurs’ fans didn’t get free tacos like the Lakers’ crowd did when L.A. held Utah to 71 points and like Nuggets’ supporters did when Denver scored 117 in those one-sided contests.

“It’s only our fourth game. We do not need to panic,” Jazz center Al Jefferson said. “We have all the pieces we need. We have a good bench, and we have a lot of new guys, so on offense they are not quite clicking yet.”

Against Utah’s defense, the Spurs sure clicked.

Besides Ginobili happening, DeJuan Blair added 17 points with 10 rebounds, while Tony Parker (14 points, eight assists) and Tim Duncan (12 points, nine rebounds) reminded the young Jazz that the old guard still rules in these parts.

On the other (cold) hand, there was Utah.

SAN ANTONIO: The San Antonio Spurs, not quite ready to be written off as too old and too slow to claim an NBA crown, routed the Los Angeles Clippers 115-90 on Wed­nes­day.

Manu Ginobili scored 24 points, leading six Spurs players who scored in double figures.

DeJuan Blair added 20 and Richard Jefferson chipped in 19. Tony Parker scored 14 points with nine assists, Tim Duncan scored 10 with eight rebounds and James Anderson added 12 off the bench as the Spurs shot 56.3% from the field.

The Spurs also made all 15 of their free throws, but coach Gregg Popovich said defence was the key to victory.

“Shots went in tonight,” Popovich said. “That’s what happens. Some nights they don’t drop. Tonight the best part of our game was defence.”

And that’s what was lacking for the Clippers, coach Vinny Del Negro said.

“Give San Antonio credit – they were cutting hard, they were moving the basketball, we were very stagnant,” he said. “We weren’t physical. We weren’t contesting shots…

“We played terrible, just from start to finish tonight,” Del Negro said.

“We had a little glimpse in the second quarter, I thought we did some good things. But they jumped on us in the third and we were just chasing them the rest of the game.”

The Clippers have been touted as a potential new power in the Western Conference after the arrival of All-Star point guard Chris Paul to team with Blake Griffin, the explosive talent who earned Rookie of the Year honours last season.

Griffin led the Clippers with 28 points, while Paul scored 10 on 3-of-10 shooting.

The Spurs, long a Western Conference force, won 61 games last season but were surprised in the first round of the playoffs by a young, energetic Memphis team, sparking predictions that the team led by 35-year-old Duncan and featuring 34-year-old Ginobili and 29-year-old Parker had passed their prime.

In their first two games of this lockout-shortened season, however, the Spurs have now beaten both Memphis and the Clippers.

San Antonio led by as many as 12 points before Griffin capped a Clippers surge by soaring for a basket that knotted the score at 52-52 late in the second quarter.

A Ginobili three-pointer saw the Spurs take a 58-54 lead at half-time, and San Antonio took firm control in the third period, when they out-scored Los Angeles by 21 points to take a 96-71 lead.

The comfortable victory meant Popovich was able to give his stars some rest. Duncan played 25 minutes, Parker 26 and Ginobili 27.

“You wouldn’t trade it,” Popovich said of the luxury of resting his veterans for significant minutes.

It could prove especially important in the hectic, lockout-shortened season.

“It was a good night for us, and to get some rest was surely welcome,” Popovich said.

In New Orleans, Jarrett Jack had 21 points and nine assists in his regular-season debut, and New Orleans dominated in their home opener, beating the winless Boston Celtics 97-78.

Danny Granger scored nine of his 21 points in the fourth quarter as Indiana Pacers beat the Raptors 90 to 85. Paul George had 18 points, David West scored 14 and Roy Hibbert had 12 points and 10 rebounds.

At Auburn Hills, Michigan, rookie Kyrie Irving had 14 points and seven assists to help Cleveland Cavaliers beat Detroit 105 to 89, spoiling the Pistons’ first home opener with new owner Tom Gores.

Meanwhile Joe Johnson led another balanced attack with 18 points as as Atlanta beat Washington 101 to 83.

At Denver, Nene scored 25 points, reserve Al Harrington had 18 points and seven rebounds, and Denver rolled over the Utah 117 to 100.

At Charlotte, North Carolina, Dwyane Wade hit a bank shot over Gerald Henderson with 2.9 seconds left to lift unbeaten Miami over Charlotte 96 to 95.

In the other games Oklahoma City beat Memphis 98 to 95, Golden State beat New York 92-78, Philadelphia routed Phoenix 103 to 83, Atlanta beat Washington 101 to 83. — Agencies

CBSSports.com wire reports
Dec. 28, 2011

SAN ANTONIO — The Los Angeles Clippers might be the talk of the Western Conference right now, but the San Antonio Spurs showed they still have plenty of life left.

Manu Ginobili scored 24 points and DeJuan Blair added 20 to lead the Spurs to a 115-90 win over the Clippers on Wednesday night.

Blake Griffin scored 28 points for the Clippers, while Chris Paul was held to 3-of-10 shooting and finished with 10 points.

Richard Jefferson added 19 points on 8-of-9 shooting for the Spurs, who have won 17 straight home games against the Clippers, a streak that dates to Jan. 31, 2002. Tony Parker scored 14 points, James Anderson 12 and Tim Duncan 10.

The Spurs hit 45 of 80 shots from the field while limiting the Clippers to 29-of-74 shooting. San Antonio led by only four points at halftime but outscored Los Angeles 38-17 in the third quarter to take control.

“Our defense in the second half was great,” Ginobili said. “They couldn’t get lobs. They scored under 40 in the second half. We were pretty good on defense. We moved the ball, and everybody scored.”

San Antonio outscored Los Angeles 57-36 in the second half.

“They tore us apart in that third quarter,” Griffin said. “Our defense needs to be better, and it can get better. The good thing about the mistakes out there is that they are easily correctable.”

While Blair didn’t limit Griffin’s scoring, he was able to do enough offensively to nearly offset him.

“I try to read them,” Blair said. “They’re very athletic. They jump high. I jump a little bit, but I’m undersized, so I just try to read them. Just look for schemes to get around the taller defenders. I watch a lot of Charles Barkley and Karl Malone, try to get a low shot. But I’m doing great with what I’m doing.”

The Clippers weren’t able to get closer than 19 in the fourth quarter. After DeAndre Jordan’s free throw made it 98-79, Ginobili hit a 3-pointer then found Blair for a short jumper to put the Spurs up 103-79.

“They’re dunkers,” Blair said while laughing when asked about the Clippers being called Lob City. “But, yeah, not tonight.

The Spurs hit 16 of 21 shots in the third, with Parker scoring 10 on 4-of-4 shooting from the field and 2 of 2 from the free throw line. Anderson converted a three-point play with 0.3 seconds left in the quarter to give San Antonio its biggest lead of the game at that point – 96-71.

“We were down four, and I look up to see we are down 68-58 at one point,” Paul said. “We are going to practice tomorrow and figure out what we did right and figure out what we did wrong. First things first, we need to start with me.”

The Spurs led 58-54 at halftime behind 16 points from Ginobili, who hit 4 of 6 attempts from 3-point range in the half.

Blair added 12 points on 6-of-8 shooting and Jefferson had 10, including a pair of 3-pointers. Griffin had 16 points in the first two quarters and scored all but four of those points on either layups or dunks.

San Antonio led by as many as 15 points in the first half, but the Clippers went on a 16-4 run and tied the game 52-all on Griffin’s dunk with 47 seconds left in the half.

The Spurs led 26-19 entering the second quarter after holding the Clippers to 8-of-22 shooting in the first. The Clippers jumped out to a 5-0 lead, but Ginobili responded by scoring the next nine points. Ginobili sandwiched two 3-pointers around three free throws after he was fouled by Chauncey Billups on a 3-pointer.

I’m kind of surprised,” Ginobili said of the team’s 2-0 start. “I didn’t think that the team was ready to have two games like this — to be so solid defensively. We’re looking sharp, but I don’t want to get too confident. I don’t think it’s fair or it’s true. We still have a long way to go. It just so happened we played two very good games.”

Notes

• Jordan hit 4 of 6 free throws. He went 4 of 12 in the opener against Golden State.
• Since Dec. 10, 1997, the Spurs have won 47 of 52 against the Clippers.
• The Spurs are off to a 2-0 start for the first time since 2008.
• The big win allowed the Spurs to rest several key players. Duncan played 26 minutes, while Ginobili and Parker played only 27.
• Caron Butler and Mo Williams each had 12 points for the Clippers. Billups had 11. Ginobili hit 5 of 8 3-pointers and 7 of 7 free throws.