OAKLAND, Calif. - No matter the lineup or location, the San Antonio Spurs are rolling through the NBA again this spring, just the way they have for most of the last two decades. Especially against Golden State. Tony Parker had 20 points and five assists, Danny Green scored 18 points and the short-handed Spurs outlasted the Warriors 99-90 on Saturday night for their 13th straight victory. "I guess they believe in themselves and in the system, and they just keep working it. Other than that, I dont really know what to tell you," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "Theyve just got great character. They never give in, and I think they like the challenge when guys are out. They seem to enjoy it." Tiago Splitter added 17 points and 14 rebounds as the league-leading Spurs (53-16) pulled away with an 11-0 run early in the fourth quarter. San Antonio, riding its longest winning streak in seven years, is two games ahead of Oklahoma City for the top playoff seed in the Western Conference. The Spurs did it even while resting stars Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili. They are 3-0 against Golden State this season, including two wins in Oakland without their regulars, after eliminating the Warriors in the second round of the playoffs last year. "Everybody stepped up," Parker said. "When somebodys not playing, its just other guys who will do it. And we trust each other." Stephen Curry scored 20 points to go with six assists and six rebounds, and Andrew Bogut grabbed 17 boards as the Warriors head into a five-day break on a sour note. The Warriors (44-27) had won three straight but missed a chance to move up in the playoff chase after Portland lost at Charlotte. Golden State is still in sixth place in the West, 1 1/2 games behind the Trail Blazers and 1 1/2 ahead of Dallas. San Antonio has won 51 of the past 59 meetings against the Warriors. "We made some mistakes. Its a disappointing loss. Itll make us better," Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. "Hopefully we see them down the road again, but theres a reason why theyre the best team in basketball." After wins at the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday night and at Sacramento on Friday night, Popovich rested two of his veterans as he so often does throughout the NBAs marathon schedule. Duncan, Ginobili and Parker all sat out San Antonios 104-102 victory against the Warriors on Dec. 19. Jackson has been trying to take a similar approach during the seasons stretch run, though the wins are not always following. Swingman Andre Iguodala was inactive for the third straight game with tendinitis in his right knee, and backup centre Jermaine ONeal returned after sitting out the previous two games. Even with all the lineup changes, Jackson saw the matchup against the Spurs as a "benchmark" for where his team stands. He joked before the game that the Spurs are like a bunch of "old dudes" at a recreational centre whipping a group of high school All-Americans because of their smarts and savvy. And thats just what it looked like at the start. The Spurs opened the game on a 22-7 run and held the lead most of the way. After the Warriors moved within four in the fourth quarter, Greens 3-pointer capped an 11-0 spurt that put San Antonio ahead 87-74. The Warriors made one last push before the Spurs quickly regrouped. Parker spun for a reverse layup and Green came back with another 3 to stretch San Antonios lead back to 94-82 with 2:18 left, sending most of the announced sellout crowd of 19,596 headed to the exits. "I couldnt be more proud of them," Popovich said. "Their effort with three games in four nights, this late in the season, and the back-to-back tonight, to finish off the three in four was real special because everyone came off the bench and they gave the effort they needed to give and Im just thrilled for them." The Spurs showed off all their best attributes through the game: smothering defence, precision passing and sharp shooting. The Warriors finally found their touch late in the second quarter, when they scored 10 straight points and sliced San Antonios lead to 50-47 at the half. The teams traded scores for most of the third quarter, and the Warriors briefly took a one-point lead. The Spurs put together another surge to go ahead 76-69 entering the fourth quarter, and held on for their longest winning streak since rolling off 13 in a row was from Feb. 13 to March 13, 2007. "You dont win 50-something odd games at this point and not have a good second unit," said ONeal, who had nine points and seven rebounds. "They really fly around." NOTES: Spurs reserve F Matt Bonner also sat out with a strained right calf. ... San Antonio (15-1) and Golden State (13-5) have the most wins in the NBA since the All-Star break. ... The Spurs and Warriors meet for the final time this season April 2 in San Antonio. Marcel Goc Blues Jersey . 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Vladimir Tarasenko Jersey . -- Neymar scored in the 83rd minute to give Brazil a 1-0 victory over Colombia on Friday night in an exhibition game before 73,429 fans at Sun Life Stadium.TORONTO -- NHL expansion is likely coming in the near future, though the league hasnt committed to any official plan just yet. For more than a year, commissioner Gary Bettman has said the NHL is listening when approached by cities interested in acquiring a team even though theres no formal expansion process underway. Amid reports this week indicating solid plans are in place, deputy commissioner Bill Daly said theres "nothing new to report on this subject." "Nothing new has happened," Daly said Wednesday in an email. Status quo doesnt necessarily mean the NHL wont eventually expand to Las Vegas, as the Vancouver Province reported Tuesday was a "done deal." And it doesnt necessarily discount the possibility of adding four teams by 2017, one each in Las Vegas, Seattle and Quebec City and a second in Toronto, as SportsBusinessNews.com reported via Twitter. Getting to 32 teams sooner rather than later would make sense for a league that moved to unbalanced conferences with 16 teams in the East and 14 in the West beginning last season. Las Vegas and Seattle fit geographically. But the NHL has several hurdles to overcome before awarding franchises, including answering arena and ownership questions. MGM and AEG are in the process of building a 20,000-seat facility in Las Vegas that could be ready by the spring of 2017, and either UNLVs Thomas & Mack Center or Orleans Arena could be short-term options. But its still unclear who would own a team in Las Vegas, let alone what could happen to sportsbooks if the NHL is the first major North American professional league to move in there. Seattle, with its vocal and passionate fanbase, has a less-than-ideal arrangement in the short-term with Key Arena. Getting a new building would be crucial to the NHL going to the Pacific Northwest. Chris Hansen, who tried to buy the NBAs Sacramento Kings to move them to Seattle, and Don Levin, owner of the AHLs Chicago Wolves, could head up an ownership group there. Communications giant Quebecor would love to resurrect the Quebec City Nordiques, and Quebecor Arena could be done by the fall of 2015. The Canadian dollar is much stronger than it was in the mid-1990s when the Nordiques moved to Denver, and fans have long been clamouring for the return of the NHL. But Bettman said at the Stanley Cup final in June that he wasnt sure how the NHL would deal with putting another team in the Eastern Conference. The Detroit Red Wings and Columbus Blue Jackets were just moved from the West to the East for the 2013-14 season. Quebecor ddid not return a call seeking comment Wednesday.dddddddddddd Former prime minister Brian Mulroney is also a key player in Quebec Citys efforts to get a team back. His assistant said Wednesday he would not comment on the reports. If the NHL did choose to cash in on what SportsBusinessNews.com reported would be roughly US$1.4 billion in expansion fees by expanding to 34 teams by the centennial season of 2017-18, a second team in Toronto could play in the Western Conference. The size of the Toronto market has long made it an interesting possibility, whether the expansion team shares Air Canada Centre with the Maple Leafs or has its own arena. Outgoing MLSE president and CEO Tim Leiweke cast doubt on the report based on his interaction with Bettman on Wednesday morning. "The commissioner and I had other business this morning, so we talked for a while and this came up, and I asked him, Did I miss a meeting? And he laughed and said, Nope," Leiweke said in an interview on Sportsnet 590 The Fan. "This isnt on the agenda right now." Officially, expansion is not on the agenda . But that doesnt stop the speculation. "We listen when people say, Wed like to come visit you and tell you why were interested and where were interested," Bettman said in June. Plenty of cities are interested, including Portland, Hamilton and Kansas City. But even with a new, lucrative Canadian TV deal and growing revenues, the NHL doesnt have to rush into anything. Expansion is tempting because fees dont count toward hockey-related revenue, which gets split between owners and players. Any expansion fee, which could run in the neighbourhood of $300 million or more, depending on the market, would be money the owners dont have to share. Getting to 32 teams -- 16 in the East and 16 in the West -- makes for better playoff math and easier scheduling and would also tie the NHL with the NFL as the leagues with the most teams. Going to 34 would surpass North Americas most popular professional sports league. Any kind of expansion requires approval from the board of governors. The NHL hasnt expanded since 2000, when the Columbus Blue Jackets and Minnesota Wild joined the league. With the state of business being pretty good, the league could look to change that in the coming years. "I think if, in fact, we get to a point where theres enough interest in enough places that it warrants consideration, then the board of governors may well invoke a formal expansion process and well look at everything," Bettman said in June. Cheap Jerseys nfl jerseys cheap authentic wholesale jerseys jerseys from china authentic Cheap Jerseys wholesale stitched jerseys ' ' '
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