SAN ANTONIO ? The San Antonio Spurs didn’t give LeBron James a chance to match Tracy McGrady.
The Spurs, coming off a loss in Houston after McGrady scored 13 points in the final 35 seconds, shot a season-best 66 percent from the floor while beating Cleveland 116-97 on Saturday night.
Tim Duncan went 13-for-15 and finished with 34 points.
San Antonio, which had lost two straight, made 26 of its 31 shots (84 percent) in the first half to take a 69-45 lead.
“We wanted to jump on them early and get the last game out of our minds,” Duncan said. “Things were really going down for us in the first half.”
After faltering offensively in the third, the Spurs made 10 of their 15 attempts in the final period.
“It’s almost impossible when a team is shooting that well,” Cleveland coach Paul Silas said. “But I do like the way we competed in the second half.”
The Cavs, coming off a 113-85 loss to Chicago on Wednesday night, got as close as 99-85 on James’ 3-pointer with 7:22 remaining. But Bruce Bowen then made a 12-footer and back-to-back 3-pointers for San Antonio.
Cleveland shot 59 percent in the fourth quarter, its best of the game.
“A lot of teams would have packed it in and lost by 50, but we kept fighting,” said James, who scored 23 points and matched his season high of 10 assists.
Bowen finished with 20 points, and Tony Parker added 18 points and had a season-high 13 assists.
Cleveland’s Drew Gooden scored 28 points, his best outing this season.
A layup by James gave Cleveland its biggest lead of the game at 12-9.
Bowen made a 17-foot jumper to start a 18-4 run for San Antonio, who pushed the ball at every opportunity against the Cavs’ shaky transition defense.
In the game, the Spurs outscored Cleveland on fast breaks 25-6.
“We have athletes that can get up and down the floor,” San Antonio’s Malik Rose said of the running game. “If we can get an extra six, eight or 10 points on the fast break, it just makes us more dangerous.”
The Spurs missed two shots in the first 3 minutes of the game, and then they went 10-for-11 over the next 10 minutes to build a 34-21 lead.
On one of those baskets, Duncan grabbed a rebound and headed upcourt. Near the Spurs’ free-throw line, the 6-foot-11 forward made a quick move to his left that froze James and then he drove in for a layup and a foul.
San Antonio did more of the same in the second, only better. The Spurs made 15 of their 17 attempts in the quarter to get their lead up to 26 points just before the break.
Duncan missed but one of his 12 shots and finished the half with 25 points, and Parker had 10 assists in the first two periods.
Notes: The Spurs’ previous shooting best this season was 59 percent against Utah. … San Antonio’s previous record for a half was 78.1 percent, set in 1988 against New York. … The Cavs have lost only once in nine home games, but they are 4-7 on the road. … Cleveland guard Lucious Harris was not in uniform because of a bruised knee.
