Clippers lose ninth straight

Tony Parker scored 19 points and San Antonio beat the skidding Clippers, 106-84, on Thursday night, giving the Spurs their ninth win in the last 10 games despite getting only eight points from Tim Duncan.

The Clippers have lost nine straight games.

The Spurs (24-11), winners of three consecutive games, have a 1 1/2 -game lead over second-place New Orleans in the Southwest Division.

Roger Mason scored 18 points for the Spurs. Michael Finley had 15 and Manu Ginobili 13 off the bench. Matt Bonner scored 11.

Though Duncan fell short of double figures in points and rebounds (four), he led the Spurs with nine assists.

The Clippers (8-27) got 21 points each from Eric Gordon and Al Thornton. Mardy Collins scored 16.

San Antonio led by as many as 24 in the fourth quarter.

The Spurs broke open a close game by scoring the first 10 points of the second half. The surge was led by three-pointers from Bonner and Finley, and it erased the Clippers’ one-point halftime lead and made it a 53-44 advantage for the Spurs after three minutes of the third quarter.

Finley went four for six, including three for three from three-point territory, for 11 points in the quarter. Bonner was four for four for nine points as the Spurs led by as many as 12 in the third quarter.

The Clippers trailed 75-69 after the third despite shooting 53% from the field.

“In the second half, they hit everything they shot,” Gordon said. “We have to change the way we play our game, like playing better on defense.”

The Clippers expanded an early two-point lead to six when the Spurs missed their final eight shots of the first quarter. San Antonio shot 26% in the first quarter; the Clippers shot 50%.

Most of San Antonio’s shooting woes were from long range. The Spurs, No. 1 in three-point shooting in the NBA, were two for nine from the three-point line in the first quarter and five for 17 at halftime.

They finished the game 11 for 29.

The Clippers led 22-16 heading into the second quarter when Collins made a basket from 14 feet. Collins scored eight first-quarter points after making four of six.

The Clippers went up by nine on Brian Skinner’s follow of Gordon’s miss four minutes into the second quarter.