Kapono Helps Raptors Soar Over Spurs

Toronto 83, San Antonio 73

SAN ANTONIO, Dec. 28 (AP) -- An hour before Friday's game against the San Antonio Spurs, Toronto Raptors coach Sam Mitchell was asked whether a nearly weeklong layoff might cause his team to be a bit rusty.

Mitchell was unequivocal in his response.

"Why would I worry about it? There's nothing I can do about it,'' he said. "I actually think we needed it.''

After the Raptors stomped the Spurs 83-73 Friday night, Mitchell might have realized just how right he was.

Toronto snapped a three-game losing streak and handed the Spurs just their second home loss of the season.

"They're a good basketball team. They're the defending world champs. And we beat them on this floor,'' Mitchell said.

Jason Kapono scored 10 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter and Kris Humphries added 14 points and 11 rebounds for Toronto. Jose Calderon also contributed 14 points.

Michael Finley led the Spurs with 20 points and Tony Parker added 15. Tim Duncan scored 16 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.

The Spurs shot as poorly as they have all season (23-of-72, 32 percent) and gave the ball up 19 times as they struggled without super sub Manu Ginobili, who is out with a sprained left index finger.

"We got shots that we usually knock out, and they didn't go out tonight,'' Duncan said.

The Spurs' 73 points were their fewest this season.

"To hold that great a team to 73 points is pretty good defense,'' Kapono said. "To finish out such a quality team, it says a lot about this team and that's something we need to build on.''

Chris Bosh, coming off a career-high 42 points in the Raptors' loss to Phoenix on Saturday, scored 10. Andrea Bargnani added 11 for Toronto.

The Raptors went ahead for good after Kapono's 3-pointer with 1:10 left in the first quarter broke a 16-all tie.

"This place is not an easy place to win in,'' Bosh said. "It's the toughest we played all year.''

Having clawed their way back to a 59-56 deficit heading into the final 12 minutes after trailing by as many as 17 earlier, things started to unravel for the Spurs about halfway through the quarter.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich was ejected with 5:59 left as he screamed at officials after no foul was called on a play, and Duncan and former Raptor Matt Bonner, who is in his second season with San Antonio, got technicals shortly thereafter.

Bonner scored 10 points for the Spurs.

"It could have sparked the (Spurs) team,'' Kapono said of the technicals. "We wanted to make sure we held them down and that's what we did.''

Kapono's 3-pointer gave Toronto a 73-62 lead with 4:29 to play. Calderon's layup with 1:44 to go, followed by a jumper from Humphries, made it 83-68 and put the game well out of reach.

The Raptors built a comfortable lead in the first half against the misfiring Spurs, who were just 10-of-34 (29 percent) from the field midway through the game. Parker only got his first basket of the night with 1:34 left in the second quarter.

The Raptors, off a 10-4 run keyed by Bargnani, went up 40-24 with 2:25 to go in the half. Their red jerseys seemed to be everywhere as they pestered San Antonio and outscored the Spurs 25-16 in the second quarter for a 44-32 lead at the break.

Things looked up for San Antonio in the third quarter. But it was more a function of the Raptors' poor shooting than the Spurs improving theirs. Toronto hit just five of 20 shots in the third. The Spurs didn't fare much better, sinking eight of 21.

But behind Finley, Duncan and Parker, the Spurs went on a 17-4 burst that brought them within 53-49 with 2:48 remaining in the period. A crowd-energizing 3-pointer from Bonner got San Antonio within 57-56 with less than 30 seconds on the clock.

source : NBA.com