Spurs Grind Out 2-1 Advantage

The San Antonio Spurs spent most of the regular season trying to take some of the pressure off Tim Duncan.

It’s working to their benefit in the playoffs.

Manu Ginobili provided a spark off the bench for the second consecutive game and Robert Horry made two big three-point shots in the fourth quarter, helping the Spurs defeat the Denver Nuggets, 86-78, on Saturday night for a 2-1 series lead.

San Antonio has tried to turn each game into a halfcourt grind and take Denver out of its running game. Except for Game 1, which Denver won in San Antonio, the Spurs have been successful.

The Spurs held the Nuggets to two points in transition in Game 2 and stuck to their grind-it-out style in Game 3 to take home-court advantage back from Denver.

Ginobili had 32 points, and Horry finished with 13.

The Nuggets got a boost from returning home and more than 19,000 thunderstick-clapping fans, but it didn’t last long.

Denver’s aggressiveness was offset by poor free throw shooting -- 17 of 30 -- and the offense was mostly stagnant, turning into the kind of stand-around isolation game that helped get Coach Jeff Bzdelik fired during the season.

Carmelo Anthony had 19 points for Denver before being ejected for a flagrant foul on Ginobili in the final minute. Kenyon Martin added 18 points for the Nuggets.

Duncan, the two-time league most valuable player, had only four points in five first-half minutes because of foul trouble and couldn’t get anything going when he returned in the second half. Duncan missed all eight of his shots in the third quarter and finished with 11 points on five-of-19 shooting.

Ginobili picked up the slack after Duncan went out with his second foul in first quarter, scoring 11 points in the final seven minutes., and added eight more after Duncan picked up his third foul with 8 1/2 minutes left in the second quarter.