The surging San Antonio Spurs will resume a nine-game Rodeo Road Trip tonight against the Toronto Raptors at Air Canada Centre.
The Spurs have won eight in a row overall and improved to 4-0 on the annual trip following Tuesday's 99-95 win over the Detroit Pistons at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Tim Duncan had 18 points and 13 rebounds, while Tony Parker scored eight of his 14 points in the fourth quarter for the Spurs, who have won five in a row on the road and improved to 7-8 away from the Alamo City.
San Antonio survived a fourth-quarter barrage by the Pistons and held on despite being outscored by a 33-25 margin in the final stanza.
"Even if we're not happy with we way we played in the fourth quarter, we can still tell ourselves we stayed in the game. Sometimes you lose those games," said Parker.
Spurs guard Manu Ginobili had one point on 0-of-4 shooting and seven assists in his second game back from a fractured left hand, which had kept him our for 22 contests. San Antonio will also visit the Clippers, Jazz, Blazers and Nuggets on the nearly 8,000-mile trek and sits two games ahead of Dallas for the top spot in the Southwest Division.
Toronto will continue its seven-game homestand tonight and fell to 1-3 on the residency following last night's 90-87 loss versus Jeremy Lin and the surging New York Knicks at Air Canada Centre.
Lin buried the game-winning three-pointer with only 0.5 seconds to go in the game, sending the Knicks to their sixth straight victory. Jose Calderon paced the Raptors with 25 points, nine assists, and seven rebounds. Linas Kleiza had a double-double with 15 points and 11 boards and DeMar DeRozan added 14 points for the Raptors, who have lost seven of their last nine games.
"We saw after the Lakers, we can compete against anybody," Calderon said of his team's effort. "We know what we have to do. They are a very good team, they have confidence and they beat us at the end."
The Raptors will also host Charlotte and Detroit on the homestand and are just 4-9 up north this season.
Toronto was swept in a home-and-home series with the Spurs a year ago and has lost 14 of the previous 18 meetings between the teams. San Antonio is 10-5 in the 15 overall matchups at ACC.
