Home Sweet Home has proven to be more than a cliche for San Antonio this season.
The Spurs will try to remain perfect in the Alamo City when they play host to a banged-up Phoenix Suns team tonight.
Tony Parker scored 12 of his 20 points in the fourth quarter on Friday, as San Antonio controlled the final stanza to upend the Trail Blazers, 99-83. The Spurs improved to 8-0 on their home floor and won for just the second time in 10 meetings against Portland. Conversely San Antonio is winless on the road in 2011-12 at 0-4.
"I thought we earned it," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "We competed well. We had a lot of guys that competed defensively and rebounding-wise in the second half and it generated a lot for us."
Tiago Splitter was a spark with a season-high 14 points, while fellow reserve Danny Green chipped in 13 points for San Antonio, which got 13 points and 11 rebounds from DeJuan Blair in its second straight win. Tim Duncan logged seven points and nine rebounds in 21 minutes for the Spurs, who won the battle in the paint, 52-34.
"We made easy buckets and we had great defense," Splitter said. "If we play like this every night, it's going to be tough to beat the Spurs."
The last time San Antonio started out a season with at least eight straight wins at the AT&T Center was the 2007-08 season, when they started 13-0.
The Suns, who are kicking off a five-game road trip tonight, have dropped three straight after falling to New Jersey, 110-103, in the desert on Friday. Deron Williams scored 35 points to go along with 14 assists in that one to lead the Nets.
Marcin Gortat recorded 20 points and 10 rebounds for the Suns, who were playing without veterans Steve Nash and Grant Hill because of injuries. Jared Dudley and Ronnie Price each scored 18 points while Channing Frye had 15 for Phoenix.
"I thought Deron Williams just kind of took over the game," Suns head coach Alvin Gentry said. "He's one of the great players in this league so sometimes that is going to happen."
Gentry has called the 37-year-old Nash's injury a "charley horse" type thing, listed officially as a bruised right quadriceps. Meanwhile, the 39-year-old Hill has a sore right quad. Both players are day-to-day and listed as questionable again for tonight. San Antonio, of course, continues to play without star swingman Manu Ginobili (broken left hand).
The Spurs went 3-1 against Phoenix, which will also visit Chicago, New York, Boston and Dallas on this trek, last season and have won four straight over the Suns in South Texas.
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