Spurs Close In at Dallas

The description of Tony Parker’s winning basket Thursday night sounds more like a tricky H-O-R-S-E shot than anything a coach would design: Drive by the defensive specialist, flip the ball over two 7-footers and swish it through the net.

Parker pulled it off with 1.2 seconds left in overtime, giving the San Antonio Spurs a 112-110 victory over the Dallas Mavericks in a thrilling, pivotal matchup of the NBA’s top two teams.

“We just happened to make the last shot,” Spur Coach Gregg Popovich said. “If there were three more seconds, they probably would’ve went down and scored.”

Tim Duncan had 25 points and 18 rebounds, and Parker and Malik Rose each had 22 as San Antonio moved within two games of Dallas in the race for the league’s best record and, just as important, the Midwest Division.

The Spurs, who have won seven of their last eight and are 5-0 in overtimes, are guaranteed of no worse than tying the season series, which is important because that’s the first tiebreaker. San Antonio also has two more conference wins than Dallas, putting it ahead in the next tiebreaker.

The teams meet one more time on April 16 in the regular-season finale.

Nick Van Exel helped make up for the absence of injured star Michael Finley (strained calf) by scoring a career-high 35 points. Dirk Nowitzki had 35 points and 12 rebounds.

“That was the toughest loss of the year,” said Dallas point guard Steve Nash, who had 18 points and seven assists. “It hurts a lot, and it makes you feel sick.”

Meanwhile, Dallas Coach Don Nelson marveled at Parker.

“I put my best defender in there and he was able to get right around him,” Nelson said, referring to Raja Bell. “That young man definitely has something special to his game.”

Detroit 113, Philadelphia 85 -- Chauncey Billups scored 29 points despite playing only three minutes in the fourth quarter to lead six double-figure scorers in the Pistons’ victory at Auburn Hills, Mich.

Allen Iverson scored only five points for Philadelphia, breaking a 186-game streak of scoring in double figures. Iverson, who went two for 11 from the field before sitting out the fourth quarter, averaged 32.1 points in the previous eight games.