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SAN ANTONIO (Ticker) -- Winning your first NBA road game in nearly 10 months is one thing, but defeating Tim Duncan and the defending NBA champions on their home court is quite another. Duncan scored a career-high 42 points as the San Antonio Spurs remained perfect at home and snapped a season-high three-game losing streak with a 99-91 win over the Vancouver Grizzlies, who have dropped 31 of their last 32 road games. Coming off their first road win since February 16, the Grizzlies proved a feisty opponent against the world champions in the first half. But Duncan took over with 16 third-quarter points to put the Spurs ahead for good, 72-67, entering the final period. "(Duncan) was fantastic," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "He rebounded, was aggressive on offense and great on defense. His all-around game was fantastic." "Tim Duncan is just a great player, maybe the best in the league right now," Vancouver coach Brian Hill added. "There is no such thing as a moral victory. The guys in this locker room are still disappointed. They felt like they missed an opportunity to pick up a win over the defending champions tonight." Duncan, who scored 39 points here against Vancouver on April 1, hit 15-of-22 shots, 12-of-14 free throws and grabbed 14 rebounds as San Antonio improved to 9-0 at the Alamodome. The Spurs avoided their first four-game skid since 1996-97, the season before Duncan's arrival. "It was a good night," Duncan said. "The teams this year are coming at us with everything they've got." "(Duncan) was incredible," Spurs point guard Avery Johnson added. "To score 42 points, that's pretty good. This is the kind of season it has been for him. It was good to come home. We got messed up on the road." Shareef Abdur-Rahim scored 30 points for Vancouver, which slipped to 1-8 on the road this season and suffered its eighth straight loss to the Spurs. "(Duncan) is a handful," Abdur-Rahim said. "In a lot of ways he carried them through this one himself. He's tough to defend as a team. You can't just double him all night because they shoot so well from the outside. He's a bad boy. You have to give him credit." David Robinson had 19 points, nine rebounds and a season-high five assists for San Antonio, which trailed 40-39 at halftime before exploding offensively over the final 24 minutes. After rookie Obinna Ekezie hit a pair of free throws to put Vancouver in front, 61-59, with 3:50 remaining in the third quarter, Duncan made two free throws and threw down a thunderous dunk to put the Spurs ahead for good. San Antonio was only 15-of-40 from the floor in the first half but sank 18-of-25 shots thereafter and went 22-of-26 from the line in the second half. The Grizzlies cut the deficit to three points several times during the fourth quarter, but Duncan always had the answer, including a 14-footer from the left side with 5:10 to play that made it 84-79. Duncan's free throws with 2:37 remaining gave San Antonio a 93-83 cushion and ended Vancouver's hopes of posting back-to-back road wins for the first time since beating Dallas and Phoenix on April 12 and April 19, 1997. Othella Harrington scored 18 points, Mike Bibby had 14 and Michael Dickerson 11 for the Grizzlies, who shot 47 percent (36-of-77) but were outrebounded, 39-25. Vancouver was 17-of-20 from the line and scored 19 points off 18 turnovers. Abdur-Rahim finished 11-of-22 from the field and sank 7-of-10 free throws. His 12 first-quarter points staked the Grizzlies to a 24-17 lead. Duncan was 0-of-3 with one point after 12 minutes but began his career night in the second quarter. He made 7-of-8 shots and all three free-throw attempts to help the Spurs cut the deficit to one at halftime. "Duncan's tough. He has great size and long arms," Harrington said. "There is not a lot of flash in his game. He plays with a lot of fundamentals. Offensively, there is not a better big man in the league." Duncan became the 11th San Antonio player to score at least 40 points in a game and first since Robinson collected 40 on April 7, 1996 against the Los Angeles Lakers.
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