DALLAS -- Patty Mills is a shooter no matter when he goes into the game. Tony Romo Shirts . The San Antonio guard showed it in yet another win over the Dallas Mavericks. Mills scored 26 points starting in place of Tony Parker and the Spurs moved to the brink of the top seed in the Western Conference while likely forcing the Mavericks into a must-win situation with their playoff hopes by beating Dallas 109-100 on Thursday night. Making his second start of the season and seventh of his career with Parker nursing a bad back, Mills had 11 points and a pair of steals in the third quarter when the Spurs turned a two-point deficit into an 11-point lead. "Whether I start or come off the bench, theres a mentality," said Mills, who fell six points short of his season high on 25 shots -- one shy of the most hes taken this season. "Shooting shots is the same." The Spurs beat the Mavericks for the ninth straight time in the regular season, a streak that has lasted more than two years. Tim Duncan had 20 points and 15 rebounds after leaving briefly in the first quarter because of a hyperextended right knee. Kawhi Leonard added 16 points, a career-high 16 rebounds and five assists. Monta Ellis led Dallas with 24 points and Dirk Nowitzki had 19. Even with Parker back in San Antonio, the Texas rivals looked like the old playoff foes they are in an entertaining game with both teams trying to lock up their post-season plans. The Spurs are in, and the defending conference champions are just a win or an Oklahoma City loss away from securing the top seed in the West. The Mavericks (48-32) are in a scrum with Phoenix and Memphis -- their opponents in the final two games -- for the final two playoff spots a year after missing the post-season for the first time since 2000. Dallas is in a virtual tie with the Suns (47-31) and a game ahead of the Grizzlies (46-32). Both opponents have four games in the last six days of the season, with Phoenix coming to Dallas on Saturday night to finish a back-to-back that starts in San Antonio. "Obviously, Saturdays huge for us," said Devin Harris, who had eight points but was just 1 of 8 from the field. "Weve got to come out with that type of effort, knowing that our seasons on the line and its a game that we must have." The Spurs had a scary moment early when Duncan crumpled to the court holding his right knee and stayed down for a Dallas possession at the other end. When the Spurs got the game stopped with 5:58 left in the first quarter, he headed for a tunnel but emerged a few minutes later and returned to the game. "It really wasnt that bad," Duncan said. "It just scared me more than anything." Parker missed his second straight game after leaving early in a win over Memphis on Sunday. The Spurs trailed by as many as 28 points and never led in a 19-point loss to Minnesota without Parker, but Mills started in place of Cory Joseph and took over against the Mavericks. Mills had eight points on an 11-0 first-half spurt that lasted just a minute and a half and answered a 14-2 run by Dallas to put San Antonio back in front by five. After Duncan, Leonard and Danny Green keyed a 9-2 run to start the second half, Mills scored 11 of the next 13 San Antonio points capped by a 3-pointer for a 71-60 lead midway through the third quarter. "Hes always aggressive," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "Hes not going to get a whole lot of rebounds or stop a whole lot of people, but hes going to shoot it. Thats what his skill is. Mills was 6 of 11 from 3-point range, and Green hit three from beyond the arc in the first 5 minutes and finished with 15 points as the Spurs matched their season high with 16 from long range on a season-high 34 attempts. "We just didnt find them quick enough," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "It was an area that was easily identifiable as one of the big keys of the game." Ellis scored 12 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter with the San Antonio lead hovering around double digits. He was just 5 of 16 from the field through three quarters. NOTES: Nowitzki got a standing ovation during a timeout after a video tribute to him passing Oscar Robertson for 10th on the NBA scoring list in a win at Utah on Tuesday. ... Actor Tobey Maguire ("Spiderman" and "The Great Gatsby") was in attendance. Larry Allen Shirts . And it showed Thursday night. The Canadiens, playing in their second game in as many days, however, got a good performance in the end from their backup goaltender as he filled in for an injured Olympic gold medallist . DeMarco Murray Mens Autographed Black Jersey . Tanaka has certainly lived up to the hype this season, going 10-1 with an American League-best 2.02 ERA. The Japanese right-hander went the distance to win his fourth straight start on Wednesday in Seattle, as he held the Mariners to a pair of runs and six hits.PHOENIX - Its not easy to turn the page after being on the wrong side of a 27-point comeback. Theres no manual on regrouping in the aftermath of something like that, mostly because it doesnt happen much. Tuesday was the first time the franchise had suffered such a collapse in its 19-year existence. "We could have stayed here and practiced for 10 hours, but we needed something to refresh our minds," Dwane Casey explained after his team returned to practice at Phoenixs US Airways Center Thursday afternoon. The team bus was en route to the arena the day prior when Casey and his staff called an audible, surprising their players who were expecting to spend the afternoon in the gym. Instead, they stopped a few blocks away for lunch and spent the next few hours at the bowling alley. "It was good for us," Casey said of his teams bonding day, which was planned before Tuesdays "debacle" in Oakland. "Guys got guys in a better spirit, ate lunch, spent time together." "We knew we had two days to prepare for Phoenix. No disrespect to Phoenix and no disrespect to [Fridays] game, because we know we have work to do, but that was the reason why [we took the day off], to refresh the mind, get us juiced up again, clear our minds a little bit and get back to work." Perhaps its just a coincidence, but some of Torontos most encouraging games during the first month of the season have come directly after bonding days or team dinners on the road. They handed it to the 76ers after sharing a meal at Kyle Lowrys house and their victory in Memphis - still their only win against a team currently over the .500 mark - came after Rudy Gay hosted a dinner at his home. "It definitely helps us free our minds [and] takes a lot of tension, a lot of stress off our minds from the previous game," said DeMar DeRozan, who claimed to have bowled a 100, his personal average. The big winner, according to DeRozan, was Aaron Gray with a score of 185. "SSomething like that definitely helps," he continued. Troy Aikman Jersey. "[To] just bond, really feel normal as a group, just go out there and feel normal and thats what we did yesterday. I think it always helps." It wasnt all fun and games though. The elephant on the lanes was - as you would expect - the teams 112-103 loss to the Warriors, a game in which they were outscored 42-15 in the fourth quarter. "We talked about it yesterday," said Casey. "We flushed it then. Its a long season and one game doesnt define us. Does it hurt? Yes, and it should hurt." Although they watched tape from the loss, Casey didnt make his players sit through the entire fourth quarter. The Raptors coach, however, watched it three or four times. "Last night was the first time I slept [since the loss],” he said. "Its frustrating," DeRozan admitted after re-watching parts of the collapse. "We watched it and we have to continue to learn from our mistakes and understand weve got to play the whole game. Even if were up [by] 50 with two minutes left, we have to finish the game off strong." Back to work Thursday, Casey said the team had a good, hard practice focusing on some reoccurring issues that stood out from watching that film. "Today we worked on screening, timing on screens, waiting for screens and the other [issue] is spacing," Casey mentioned. "We talked about that because that is an issue. Teams are able to clog, double team or whatever and give half a man to those wings if we are not spaced properly." Further to that, ball movement was emphasized once again. The Raptors, who still rank dead last in the league in assists, recorded just one dime in the fourth on Tuesday. Three full days removed from their most embarrassing loss of the campaign, the Raptors will get another shot at snapping their losing skid - which now stands at four - on Friday against the Suns, one of the leagues biggest surprises at 10-9.cheap jerseys ' ' '
