NBA: Spurs silence Bulls in the second half, maintain home fortress

The San Antonio Spurs held the Chicago Bulls under 20 points in each of the two second-half quarters, to bounce back from a weak start, pulling out a 101-83 win, Wednesday (Thursday, PHL time) at the AT&T Center in San Antonio, Texas. The Spurs improved to a league-best 48-14 record, and are now 25-3 at home, having won their last 21-of-22 there. The Bulls on the other hand dropped to 34-27, and are losers of four of their last six. Chicago led early on by as much as 14 points in the first half, turning a 32-31 deficit into a 46-32 lead, behind the efforts of Marco Belinelli and Marquis Teague. Kawhi Leonard scored eight of his side's next 13 however, pulling the Spurs within three, before Belinelli ended the first half with a lay-up, 52-47. The third period saw three lead changes and three deadlocks, the last coming at 68-all, via a Tiago Splitter jumper. Patty Mills then added a jumper and Splitter followed it up with a dunk, as San Antnoio took a four-point lead into the final quarter. There, the Spurs put the finishing touches on their foes, beginning with a 13-3 run that increased their lead to 85-71. Five from Stephen Jackson and Mills increased their advantage to 90-73, but six from Luol Deng and Carlos Boozer kept the Bulls in the thick of things, 90-79, 4:49 left. An 8-2 Spurs run however began killing off any hopes of a Bulls comeback, 98-81, but Teague hit a jumper with 2:10 left. On the other end, Tim Duncan missed a jumper, but Teague couldn't capitalize, committing a costly turnover, which led to a split at the line by Splitter, 99-83, a big enough margin to have both sides sub out their starters. Old reliables Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili led the way for San Antonio, with Duncan producing a double-double of 18 points and 10 rebounds, plus five blocks. Ginobili on the other hand came through also with 18 markers, in addition to a team-best nine assists. Role players Kawhi Leonard, Tiago Splitter and Patty Mills put together 40 combined points. The Bulls were led by Marco Belinelli's game-best 21 markers on 50 percent shooting, plus seven assists. Luol Deng scored 19, while rookie Marquis Teague managed 11. Chicago scored 23 and 29 points in the first two periods, but were only allowed 16 and 15 in the third and fourth quarters. The Spurs shot 54.1 percent from the field, 57.1 percent from downtown, versus the 36.7 percent clip of the Bulls, who also made 9-of-20 from long-range. - AMD, GMA News