SAN ANTONIO — Tony Parker scored 19 points and San Antonio beat the skidding Los Angeles Clippers, 106-84, last night, giving the Spurs their ninth win in the last 10 games despite getting only eight points from Tim Duncan.

The Clippers have lost nine straight. They led by nine in the second quarter and by a point at halftime, but Los Angeles was outscored 31-15 by the Spurs in the fourth quarter and 63-40 in the second half.

"The defense got better as the game went on, and that fueled the offense," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, whose team scored 16 points in the first quarter.

The Spurs (24-11), winners of three consecutive games, have a 11/2-game lead over second-place New Orleans in the Southwest Division.

Fred Jones, waived three days ago by the Clippers and reacquired by Los Angeles on a 10-day contract yesterday, was the first player off the bench for Los Angeles. He finished with 11 points in 33 minutes.

Mavericks 99, Knicks 94: Josh Howard scored 19 points and Jason Kidd added 16 to lead host Dallas past New York and center Eddy Curry, who played for the first time after missing the first 33 games with a knee injury.