Parker Helps Spurs Hold Off SuperSonics

With the Spurs' lead quickly disappearing in the fourth quarter, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich knew exactly what to say, and to whom. <br/><br/>``He told me to be more aggressive,'' Tony

Monday, November 27th 2006, 6:01 am

By: News On 6

With the Spurs' lead quickly disappearing in the fourth quarter, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich knew exactly what to say, and to whom.

``He told me to be more aggressive,'' Tony Parker said. ``Basically I was doing nothing for three quarters, so he wanted me to shoot more.''

Parker scored 12 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter, and the Spurs beat the Seattle SuperSonics 98-78 Sunday night.

After sitting for nearly 7 minutes, Parker re-entered with 9:14 left and the Spurs' lead down to 74-71. Determined to be more aggressive, Parker scored 10 points in a 13-2 run that turned the close game into a rout.

In other NBA games, it was: Toronto 92, Indiana 83; Phoenix 119, Portland 101; Denver 103, Los Angeles Clippers 88; and the Los Angeles Lakers 99, New Jersey Nets 93.

The Spurs are the only unbeaten road team left in the NBA, and the fourth team in the last 10 years to start 7-0 or better on the road. They will be tested twice more on their current three-game trip _ Monday night at Golden State and Wednesday in Utah.

Parker made six of seven shots in the fourth, scoring three times driving in the lane and three times on jumpers. The Spurs outscored Seattle 27-15 and improved upon the best road start in franchise history. San Antonio has won 12 straight regular-season road games dating to last season.

Tim Duncan scored 18 points and grabbed 16 rebounds, and made team history, despite the efforts of Seattle's defense. The eight-time All-Star became the third Spurs' player to eclipse 15,000 points in his career, joining David Robinson and George Gervin. Duncan needed 10 points, and reached the milestone number when reserve Nick Collison was called for goaltending on Duncan's short jumper with 2:05 left in the first half.

Ray Allen led Seattle with 21 points and Collison added 15, but the Sonics were held to a season-low 78 points and Rashard Lewis was held to season-low eight points, 15 below his average.

Afterward, Seattle coach Bob Hill was extremely frustrated with the play of his bench.

``There is no help for the first group,'' Hill said. ``Our first group missed a lot of shots around the basket because of their length, which has been a problem for us. And as soon as we go to the bench, it's just a struggle to score points.''

Aside from Collison, Seattle got 10 points from its reserves. Earl Watson made just one of eight shots.

The Spurs were without Manu Ginobili, bothered by a lower back contusion suffered in the third quarter of Friday's loss against Dallas. Brent Barry picked up some of the scoring slack with all 12 of his points in the first half.

Nuggets 103, Clippers 88

Carmelo Anthony had 33 points, J.R. Smith added 23 and Denver won its fifth straight game.

Corey Maggette had 22 points to lead Los Angeles, which shot 36 percent to lose its fourth straight. The Clippers dropped to 0-5 on the road.

Raptors 92, Pacers 83

At Toronto, Chris Bosh had 17 points and 11 rebounds and four other Raptors reached double figures in scoring.

Stephen Jackson and Danny Granger each scored 18 points for the Pacers, who have been behind after the first quarter in 11 of 14 games this season.

Suns 119, Trail Blazers 101

At Portland, Raja Bell had a season-high 30 points, including seven 3-pointers, to pace Phoenix.

The Suns led by as many as 25 points, and all of their starters scored in double figures in the team's fourth straight win after a slow start to the season. Amare Stoudemire, coming back from surgery on his left knee that forced him to miss all but three games last season, had 20 points and 11 rebounds.

Lakers 99, Nets 93

At Los Angeles, Lamar Odom scored 21 points, and Kobe Bryant added 19 points and a season-high 10 assists as Los Angeles won for the fifth time in its last six games.

Kwame Brown had 13 points and nine rebounds and Smush Parker also scored 13 for the Lakers, who won despite Bryant's 8-of-24 shooting night.