Admiral Leads Spurs To No. 50
David Robinson is rarely the key figure for the San Antonio Spurs these days, but he certainly filled that role against the Sacramento Kings.
Robinson scored six of his 26 points in overtime and also grabbed 15 rebounds as the Spurs defeated the Kings 98-92 Tuesday night.
On a night when Tim Duncan missed 16-of-22 shots in a physical game, Robinson delivered the big points for the defending NBA champions.
Despite playing with five fouls, Robinson sent the game into overtime with a free throw, then scored six straight points in the extra session as the Spurs held off the Kings, who had won the three previous meetings.
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Bothered after aggravating a slight knee injury early in the game, Duncan still had 18 points and 13 rebounds for the Spurs, who outscored Sacramento 14-8 in overtime to win their third straight.
It helped that both Sacramento inside threats, Chris Webber and Vlade Divac, fouled out in the final 1:17 of regulation.
"It's tough knowing your two big horses aren't out there and they still have their two big horses out on the floor," Kings guard Nick Anderson said.
Trailing 86-84 early in overtime, Terry Porter got San Antonio even with a jumper. Duncan put the Spurs ahead with an outside shot and Robinson followed with a basket inside and two free throws, to make it 92-86 with 1:06 remaining.
Although the Spurs shot poorly in the fourth quarter and overtime, they made things tough for the uptempo Kings, who missed 17 of their last 25 attempts.
"Our defense was on a championship level tonight, especially in the fourth quarter," Spurs guard Avery Johnson said. "To hold them under 100 points in an overtime game, that's pretty good."
San Antonio reached the 50-win mark for the fifth time in seven seasons.
The Kings lost their third straight game at home and have dropped four of five overall. Sacramento is seventh in the Western Conference, holding a one-game lead over Seattle.
"It's just a really tough loss," Kings coach Rick Adelman said. "I thought our guys really played hard. Without Vlade and Chris down the stretch it was tough, but we still had our chances."
Webber had 16 points and 12 rebounds. Divac added 17 points and seven rebounds. Jason Williams had 17 points, nine assists and eight turnovers. Anderson scored 16 points and Predrag Stojakovic added 14.
Sean Elliott had 13 points for the Spurs and Johnson, Porter and Samaki Walker each added 10.
Robinson made 1 of 2 from the foul line with 15.3 seconds left, to tie it at 84. After a Kings turnover, Johnson missed a baseline jumper with one second left, sending the game to overtime.
Divac made a short baseline shot and Stojakovic followed with an eight-footer in traffic, putting Sacramento ahead 84-83 with 28 seconds remaining.
The fourth quarter was a defensive struggle as the Kings outscored San Antonio 13-11. The teams missed 32 of 39 shots.
Ahead by one at the half, the Spurs built the lead to nine early in the third. Sacramento ran off nine straight points to tie it, but trailed 72-71 entering the final period.
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