Duncan excels as Spurs rout Trail Blazers

SAN ANTONIO - Gone are the days when the San Antonio Spurs needed 20-plus points from Tim Duncan for a victory. Duncan surpassed that mark Saturday night for the first time in 13 games in the Spurs' 101-81 victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. San Antonio, with its more diversified offense, is 11-2 in those outings. "I got a couple of shots to go down tonight, and that is good because they haven't been going down lately," said Duncan, who finished with 22 points and 15 rebounds. "It makes the game a lot easier." Leading 69-65 after three, the Spurs opened the final period with consecutive 3-pointers by Brent Barry, Beno Udrih and Manu Ginobili. Portland narrowed the gap to five on a layup and three-point play by Zach Randolph, but San Antonio closed the game by outscoring the Blazers 21-6. "We played a tough game up until the fourth quarter," said Zach Randolph, who led Portland with 24. "They picked it up and we didn't." Tony Parker had 18 points for the Spurs, who won their sixth straight. Ginobili scored 13, Udrih 11 and Barry and Nazr Mohammed 10 apiece. San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich singled out Barry, who the team reportedly was close to dealing just before the trade deadline. Barry, signed in 2004 for his long-range shooting, has struggled much of the season, but he has made seven of his last 14 3-point shots. "He's playing with more confidence and purpose," Popovich said. "He's helped our team, but I'm more thrilled for him. He's playing aggressively." Darius Miles added 16 points and Steve Blake 14 for the Blazers, who have lost 11 of 13. Blazers coach Nate McMillan said his team played hard, but it strayed from the game plan down the stretch. "They started to hit us with the pick-and-roll and the trap, and then they spread us out with their shooters," McMillan said. "I thought we could win this game, but it's not a 36-minute game — it's a 48-minute game." A follow by Viktor Khryapa gave Portland its first lead at 14-13 with about 4 minutes left in the first quarter. Khryapa had three of the Blazers' seven offensive rebounds in the period, which they turned into four second-chance baskets. A jumper by Sebastian Telfair gave Portland its biggest lead of the half at 32-26 early in the second. Then Duncan, who had averaged under 14 points in the last five games, came alive. He stole the ball from Miles and passed to Barry for a fast-break dunk, and later he made a quick spin around Randolph for a layup and put back his own missed free throw to tie the game at 36 midway through the second. He finished the half with 13 on 6-for-9 shooting. Blake scored on a layup to even it at 45 with 15 seconds remaining, but Parker penetrated and kicked out to Michael Finley for a jumper at 1.9 seconds for the final points of the half. A 3-pointer by Randolph capped a 7-0 run to put the Blazers up 58-55 with about 6 minutes left in the third. The Spurs answered with a 10-0 run that included four layups by Parker, who scored 10 points in the period. -AP