SAN ANTONIO (AP) – Tony Parker scored 27 points and Tim Duncan added 17 despite playing with the stomach flu that has pestered the San Antonio roster the past week, and the Spurs defeated the struggling Atlanta Hawks 95-81 on Sunday.
It was Parker’s third straight game scoring more than 20 points and fourth out of his last five.
Manu Ginobili, who missed a game this week because of stomach flu, scored 18 for San Antonio, which opened the fourth quarter with a 10-0 run that gave it a 77-61 lead.
The Hawks (9-20) have lost seven straight and 11 of 12. Atlanta has lost nine straight in San Antonio dating to Feb. 15, 1997.
Joe Johnson scored 23 points for the Hawks and Josh Childress added 19.
Duncan’s playing status wasn’t certain until about 20 minutes before the game. At least five other Spurs have been affected by the bug recently, accounting for three missed games.
The Hawks had a 31-24 lead three minutes into the second quarter but they scored six points over the next 7:30 and trailed by five points late in the first half.
Atlanta went 2-for-15 combined during the final nine minutes of the first half and the opening five minutes of the third quarter to fall behind 53-42 with 6:53 left in the third quarter.
The Hawks shot 39 percent from the field for the game.
The Hawks have lost each of their past five games by double figures, including a season-worst 27 at Detroit on Dec. 23.
Notes: The Hawks came into the game with a 2-1 record on Sundays this season, the only day of the week they had a winning record. … Atlanta is two games better this season than the 7-22 record it had after 29 games in 2005-06. … F Robert Horry got his second start of the season for the Spurs, both coming in the past two games because of C Francisco Elson’s right torn rotator cuff injury. … Spurs F Matt Bonner had a season-high seven offensive rebounds. … San Antonio plays games at Cleveland and Minnesota this week before returning home to play Southwest Division-foe Dallas on Friday.
AP-ES-12-31-06 1808EST
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