Seattle ? Manu Ginobili scored 23 points and Tim Duncan had 21 points and 10 rebounds, leading the San Antonio Spurs to their first victory of the season in three tries against the Seattle SuperSonics, 103-84 on Monday night.
Tony Parker had 17 points and a season-high 10 rebounds for the Spurs, who have the NBA’s best record at 37-10. The Northwest Division-leading Sonics are 30-13.
The Sonics played without All-Star guard and top scorer Ray Allen, who missed his first game of the season because of the flu.
They also were without coach Nate McMillan. He was in Raleigh, N.C., following of the death of his mother Sunday. The Sonics were coached by assistant Dwane Casey.
Without Allen, who is eighth in the NBA in scoring at 24 points per game, the Sonics struggled offensively against the Spurs, the league’s top defensive team.
Ronald Murray, Vladimir Radmanovic and Antonio Daniels each had 13 points for the Sonics. Murray, replacing Allen in the starting lineup, shot 5-for-17. The Sonics shot 41.1 percent (30-for-73).
The Spurs got 10 points from defensive specialist Bruce Bowen in the first quarter and 12 from Ginobili in the second in taking a 48-34 halftime lead. They scored the last eight points in the final 3:22 of the first half, with Duncan scoring on a tip-in and a 14-foot bank shot.
In the third period, the Spurs led by 20 points four times, the last at 65-45, as Parker scored 11 points. San Antonio was in front 76-59 going into the last quarter.
Notes:@ The Sonics don’t know when McMillan will be back. Casey said he talked to McMillan twice on the phone Monday. “Two for sure, maybe three,” Casey said when asked how many games McMillan would miss. … The Sonics don’t know if Allen will be able to play Tuesday night at Sacramento.
