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The annual Rodeo Road Trip for the San Antonio Spurs didn't get off to a positive start and they'll try to bounce back Monday against the Indiana Pacers. The Spurs kicked off a set of nine straight road games with Sunday's 87-82 setback against the Toronto Raptors and shot just 33.3 percent from the floor. Marco Belinelli and Tim Duncan scored 12 points and the latter added 12 rebounds for the Spurs, who had won two straight and nine of 11 games.
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The loss denied head coach Gregg Popovich his 1,000th career win.
"We're not trying to win for one person or another, we're trying to better our team and end (the first half of the season) strong," Duncan said.
Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker scored 11 and 10 points, respectively.
San Antonio is six games off the Southwest lead and is scheduled to visit Detroit, LA Clippers, Golden State, Utah, Portland, Sacramento and Phoenix on the remainder of this lengthy sojourn. It is 12-12 on the road and will travel just over 8,000 miles on the journey.
The Pacers have been playing well lately with three straight wins and five in the previous seven tries.
In Sunday's 103-102 victory over the Charlotte Hornets, George Hill came up clutch again late in the game and his layup with 4.9 seconds to go was the difference. Hill, whose four-point play lifted Indiana over Cleveland on Friday, finished with 11 points.
C.J. Watson had 22 points and Luis Scola added 15 and 14 rebounds. David West also scored 15 points for Indiana, which erased a 21-point deficit in the third quarter to stay in the win column.
"It's huge," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said of the win. "We're trying to turn our season around... We've talked all along like it's gonna turn for us."
The Pacers are two games off the final playoff spot in the East, but there's plenty of time left in the season.
Indiana will shoot for a third consecutive win at home and has an 11-13 record as the host. It will visit New Orleans and Philadelphia next.
San Antonio squeezed by Indiana, 106-100, on Nov. 26 in the Alamo City and was paced by Manu Ginobili's 28 points. Leonard and Parker both had 21 in that one for the Spurs, who have dominated the Pacers lately to the tune of a 17-3 mark in the past 20 encounters.
[SportsNetwork.com]
