1 of 11 | Share
Spurs 100, Sixers 90: Feb. 8, 2012
San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker celebrates after scoring against the Philadelphia 76ers in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Wednesday, Feb., 8, 2012, in Philadelphia. The Spurs won 100-90. (AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr ) (AP)
San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker (9) drives against Philadelphia 76ers’ Jrue Holiday in the first half of an NBA basketball game on Wednesday, Feb., 8, 2012, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr ) (AP)
San Antonio Spurs’ DeJuan Blair, left, fights for a loose ball with Philadelphia 76ers’ Elton Brand (42) in the first half of an NBA basketball game on Wednesday, Feb., 8, 2012, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr ) (AP)
San Antonio Spurs’ Tim Duncan (21) goes up for a shot as Philadelphia 76ers’ Elton Brand (42) defends in the first half of an NBA basketball game on Wednesday, Feb., 8, 2012, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr ) (AP)
San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker (9) goes up for a basket as Philadelphia 76ers’ Andre Iguodala, top right, and Elton Brand (42) defend in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Wednesday, Feb., 8, 2012, in Philadelphia. The Spurs won 100-90. (AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr ) (AP)
San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, right, talks to Tony Parker(9) as they play against the Philadelphia 76ers in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Wednesday, Feb., 8, 2012, in Philadelphia. The Spurs won 100-90. (AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr ) (AP)
San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker (9) defends as Philadelphia 76ers’ Lou Williams (23) goes up for a shot in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Wednesday, Feb., 8, 2012, in Philadelphia. The Spurs won 100-90. (AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr ) (AP)
Philadelphia 76ers’ Thaddeus Young (21) scores against the San Antonio Spurs in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Wednesday, Feb., 8, 2012, in Philadelphia. The Spurs won 100-90. (AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr) (AP)
San Antonio Spurs’ Gary Neal, , front left, drives against Philadelphia 76ers’ Lou Williams, behind, in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Wednesday, Feb., 8, 2012, in Philadelphia. The Spurs won 100-90. (AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr ) (AP)
San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker, right, goes up for shot as Philadelphia 76ers’ Jrue Holiday (11) defends in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Wednesday, Feb., 8, 2012, in Philadelphia. The Spurs won 100-90. (AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr ) (AP)
San Antonio Spurs’ Tiago Splitter (22) has his shot blocked by Philadelphia 76ers’ Lavoy Allen in the second half of an NBA basketball game on Wednesday, Feb., 8, 2012, in Philadelphia. The Spurs won 100-90. (AP Photo/H. Rumph Jr ) (AP)
By Jeff McDonald
PHILADELPHIA — The name has changed over the years, from the CoreStates Center to First Union Center to Wachovia Center to the Wells Fargo Center.
Informally, the building had also been known as Spectrum II and Stack’s House, after Jerry Stackhouse, the team’s star when the place was built in 1996.
None of the name changes were enough to fool Tony Parker.
For as long as he’s been with the Spurs, the arena the Philadelphia 76ers call home might as well have been the Temple of Doom.
“Our history is really bad here,” Parker said. “We played so bad in Philly. I figured we had to get a win here sometime.”
Behind the kind of performance from Parker that channeled a pint-sized Philly scoring star of a bygone era — Allen Iverson — the Spurs thwarted the 76ers 100-90 on Wednesday, ending a string of helplessness in the City of Brotherly Love.
Parker scored 37 points, which would have been a season high if not for the 42 he dumped on Oklahoma City on Saturday, to help the Spurs run their season-best winning streak to six games.
Before Wednesday, the Spurs had won an NBA championship more recently than they’d won a game in Philadelphia. The win broke a string of four straight road losses to the 76ers.
It was just the Spurs’ third victory in the building now known as the Wells Fargo Center in the last 11 years.
“We always joke there’s something in the water here,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said before tipoff. “Every time we’re here, we get put back on our heels. We can’t score a basket. Defense just swarms us, and we seem to give in.”
None of the above happened Wednesday, as the Spurs (18-9) moved to 2-0 on their annual rodeo trip, with games against Eastern Conference dregs New Jersey, Detroit and Toronto just ahead.
In what might be their final game without injured guard Manu Ginobili — who Popovich said could return against the Nets on Saturday — the Spurs produced perhaps their most impressive victory of the season.
Gary Neal added 18 points for the Spurs, hitting all four of his 3-pointers, and Tiago Splitter picked-and-rolled to 15 as the Spurs beat back the Atlantic Division-leading Sixers (18-8) on their home floor.
Tim Duncan contributed 16 points and 11 rebounds for his third consecutive double-double, while the Spurs reached 100 points against a Sixers team that came in allowing a league-low 86.6 on average.
“We kind of played consistently,” said Duncan, whose team owns the NBA’s longest active win streak. “They hit some shots that kept them in the game. We stuck with it and got our defense to start working for us. We’re starting to play the way we want to play.”
As has often been the case recently, Parker carried the Spurs when it mattered.
Though Wednesday’s scoring binge won’t do much for Parker’s All-Star chances — reserve ballots were due Tuesday, with results to be announced tonight — no Western Conference coach who voted for him is apt to regret it.
Parker was a perfect 13 of 13 from the line against the 76ers, a testament to an offensive aggressiveness he sustained throughout. He also had eight assists.
“He had that ball on a string,” 76ers coach Doug Collins said. “We just never could get him under control.”
When the game teetered in the third quarter, with the Sixers taking a brief lead and ghosts of Philadelphia failures past howling, Parker took over.
At a timeout early in the second half, Popovich hit Parker with familiar marching orders.
“He thought it was a good moment to be aggressive,” Parker said.
Parker responded by scoring 11 points in the quarter’s final 9:21, and the Spurs took a 75-67 lead into the fourth.
Half an hour later, with Parker as a guide, the Spurs walked out of their Temple of Doom with a road victory that felt better than most.
“Our history here hadn’t been very good,” Duncan said. “We needed this win.”
jmcdonald@express-news.net
– Associated Press photos