SAN ANTONIO _ The Nets built a seven-point fourth-quarter lead over the Spurs Thursday night at AT&T Center, but the tide of history was against them. They lost that cushion and lost their 16th straight regular-season game in this city as the Spurs battled their way to a 117-114 victory.
The Nets went up 107-100 on a DeMarre Carroll layup with just under eight minutes to play, but the Spurs kept attacking and found ways to get to the rim through a zone defense that largely had kept them out of the paint during the first three quarters. When DeMar DeRozan scored on a tip-in with 4:04 left, the Spurs had a 103-101 lead.
The Nets' Joe Harris hit a 3-pointer at the 2:46 mark for a 109-106 lead, but the Spurs put together a 9-2 run to take a 115-111 advantage with 51.1 seconds left on a three-point play by LaMarcus Aldridge. Shabazz Napier made it close with a 3-pointer with 4.4 seconds to go, but the Nets had to foul and Aldridge made a pair for a 117-114 edge, leaving the Nets with 3.6 seconds. Napier tried to draw contact on his 3-pointer but missed at the buzzer.
D'Angelo Russell topped the Nets (28-25) with 25 points and nine assists, and Carroll and Harris each scored 18. The Nets held the Spurs (31-22) to 40 percent shooting, but San Antonio had six players in double figures, led by Derrick White's 26 points, 20 points and 13 rebounds from Aldridge and 15 points and 10 rebounds by DeRozan.
The Nets last won here in Game 2 of the 2003 NBA Finals and last won a regular-season game in San Antonio in 2002. Asked about that long stretch of futility, Atkinson said, "I think a lot of franchises have had trouble winning here, not just the Nets. I say it every time we come here, they're one of the top organizations in professional sports."
Although the Nets have been one of the NBA's hottest teams with a 20-6 record over their previous 26 games, they were entering a difficult stretch in which they faced the Spurs followed by a visit to Orlando on Saturday to play a team they have beaten twice and then home games next week against Milwaukee and Denver, two of the top teams in the Western Conference.
"We understand this is a big task before the All-Star break, and then post-All-Star we have a tough schedule," Atkinson said.
Both teams got an early shock when the game had to be halted when a swarm of bats came out of the rafters and began swooping low over the court. It took a few minutes, but after a lot of towel-waving by the operations staff, the bats retreated and the game continued.
It didn't look good for the Nets in the first quarter. Patty Mills scored nine points in a 27-10 run that gave the Spurs a 12-point lead, but the Nets finished the quarter with an 8-0 burst highlighted by a pair of 3s by Russell that cut their deficit to 29-25.
Another 8-0 Nets surge ending with a Harris layup gave them a 47-45 lead before the Spurs regained a 52-51 halftime edge. Thanks to their zone defense, the Nets held the Spurs to 37.7-percent shooting in the first half while converting 52.4 percent of their shots.
The third quarter was a wild affair that included 11 lead changes and four ties. DeMarre Carroll, who earlier in the quarter completed a four-point play, buried a 3 that triggered an 8-0 Nets run for a six-point lead that shrank to 89-85 at the end of the quarter.
