SAN ANTONIO: Tony Parker scored 11 of his 31 points in the fourth quarter Saturday to lift the San Antonio Spurs to an eighth straight NBA victory, 108-99 over the Phoenix Suns.

Manu Ginobili added 20 points off the bench for San Antonio, and Tiago Splitter contributed 13 points and eight rebounds for the Spurs, who again managed just fine without Tim Duncan who is nursing a sore left knee.

The Spurs were also without coach Gregg Popovich on the sideline as he missed a third straight game because of illness.

The Suns jumped out to a quick lead, although San Antonio had knotted the score at 26-26 after the first quarter.

Phoenix got strong scoring performances by Michael Beasley - who had 25 points on 11-of-16 shooting - and Jared Dudley, who shot 10-of-12 from the field and scored 23.

The visitors led by as many as five in the third quarter, but Ginobili made two free throws in the waning seconds to trim the Suns' lead to one point going into the fourth.

But Parker poured it on in the final period. In addition to his 11 points he handed out five assists and grabbed four rebounds in the frame. He scored seven in a row in a 10-0 Spurs scoring spurt as San Antonio extended their home winning streak to 16 games and improved to 36-11 overall. - AFP

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