Associated Press

Cleveland, March 1:

Tim Duncan made a 19-foot jumper just before the final horn sounded, giving the San Antonio Spurs a 94-92 victory on Monday night over the Cleveland Cavaliers, who dropped their third straight. Duncan missed his first seven shots and didn’t score in the game’s first 19 minutes. But with the game on the line, he took a pass from Tony Parker, gathered himself and calmly knocked down his shot without a hand in his face. After going 0-for-7, Duncan went 9-for-10 from the floor, finishing with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Parker added 19 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists. Zydrunas Ilgauskas had 26 points and LeBron James finished with 20 points for the Cavaliers.

In New York, Tim Thomas scored a season-high 35 points, and New York Knicks recovered after blowing a 10-point lead in the final 46 seconds of regulation to defeat Los Angeles Lakers 117-115. The victory was the third straight for the Knicks. New York remained in last place in the Atlantic Division but pulled within five games of the first-place Boston Celtics. Kobe Bryant forced overtime by making a 3-pointer with 4.4 seconds left in regulation, but he couldn’t come up with another big play at the end.

Bryant had 30 points, eight assists, five rebounds and seven turnovers, and Lamar Odom had 26 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers. In Salt Lake City, Mehmet Okur converted a three-point play with 21.7 seconds remaining and Utah Jazz held for 87-86 win when Los Angeles Clippers’ Bobby Simmons missed a layup at the buzzer. The Jazz won back-to-back games for the first time in a month and a half, but barely. With the win, Utah’s Jerry Sloan passed Dick Motta for seventh in NBA coaching victories with 636. Simmons led the Clippers with 17 points, including a 3-pointer to get Los Angeles within a point in the last 10 seconds. Corey Maggette added 16 points for the Clippers.