Parker’s 42 helps Spurs steal Oklahoma’s thunder
LOS ANGELES - Reuters
San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker of France goes to the hoop against Oklahoma City Thunder during the first half of an NBA game on Feb 4 in San Antonio. Parker scored a season-high 42 points to propel the San Antonio Spurs to victory over the Oklahoma City Thunder. AP photo
Tony Parker scored a season-high 42 points to propel the San Antonio Spurs past the league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder 107-96 on Saturday night.The Southwest division-leading Spurs (16-9) improved to a league best 13-1 at home in their final game at the AT&T Center before playing their next nine games on the road.
“I was rolling tonight,” Parker told reporters. “Every time I popped, I felt better in my head. I was in attack mode.”
Following a slow start and some prodding from his coach Gregg Popovich, Parker found his scoring stroke in the second quarter with 10 points as the Spurs pulled away from the Thunder and opened a 57-47 half time lead.
“Pop (Popovich) got onto to him about trying to score the ball, that we needed it tonight,” Spurs forward Tim Duncan said. “He stepped up and he did just that. Once he got rolling he just kind of took over the game. It was great.”
Assists record
Parker also added nine assists to go with his sharp-shooting. With his eighth assist Parker passed Avery Johnson to establish a new franchise record with 4,477 assists.
The Thunder led early, but a string of three successive three-pointers by the Spurs turned a five-point deficit into a four-point lead and the Spurs never looked back.
“Tony Parker had his way with us,” said Thunder coach Scott Brooks. “It’s all about stopping the basketball, and we didn’t do a very good job of that.”
Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 22 points and 11 assists and Josh Harden scored 19 points off the bench.
At Sacramento, California, Marcus Thornton scored 28 points and Tyreke Evans had 26 points and nine assists to help the Sacramento Kings beat the Golden State Warriors 114-106 in overtime.
Dorrell Wright scored 24 points for Golden State, which made a season-high 16 3-pointers.
Nate Robinson had 20 points, Monta Ellis scored 18, Klay Thompson had 16, and Stephen Curry finished with 11. DeMarcus Cousins had 21 points and a career-high 20 rebounds, the first 20-20 game for the Kings since Brad Miller did it on Jan. 14, 2009.
At Milwaukee, Derrick Rose scored 26 points and had 13 assists, and Luol Deng added 21 points in his return after missing seven games due to injury as the Chicago Bulls downed the Milwaukee Bukcs 113-90.
