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Charlotte, NC (SportsNetwork.com) - Manu Ginobili scored 27 points, including two key baskets that stopped a late Charlotte rally, and the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Charlotte Hornets 98-93 on Wednesday. After a pair of Kemba Walker free throws brought Charlotte within a point late in the fourth quarter, Ginobilis bank shot and 3-pointer on back-to-back possessions restored San Antonios comfortable lead as the Spurs won for the third time in four games. Back-to-backs are always very satisfying wins, said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. Weve had an opportunity to win some other games, and weve blown them. Tonight, we came through. San Antonio got 18 points from Danny Green and Tim Duncan chipped in 14 points and 10 rebounds in the victory. Despite 28 points from Walker, Charlotte saw its five-game winning streak come to an end. Bismack Biyombo recorded his second-straight double-double with 12 points, 15 boards and five blocks. Gerald Henderson and P.J. Hairston each added 11 points. Against a team like that, you cant have a stretch of five minutes with no defense, said Hornets coach Steve Clifford. Youre not going to win. Greens triple a minute into the final period extended San Antonios edge to 81-70, but a 15-5 Charlotte run put that lead in jeopardy. Lance Stephenson scored five points, and Hairston hit a pair of 3s before Walkers free throws trimmed the Hornets deficit to one. While Ginobili responded to extend San Antonios lead again, Charlotte went cold to end its chance of a comeback. They went nearly three minutes before Biyombo hit a free throw to snap the Hornets scoring drought, and they went nearly five minutes between shots from the field. Walkers layup with 15 seconds left ended that drought and 11 seconds later, he hit a 3-pointer to again inch closer to the Spurs. However, each time San Antonio responded with a pair of free throws to hold off the Hornets. The Hornets jumped out to a 7-0 lead, but San Antonio responded with a 17-4 run to go up 17-11 with three minutes to go in the first quarter. San Antonio led 22-18 after one quarter when Stephensons jumper with 32 seconds left cut into the Spurs lead. Stephenson missed the previous 14 games with a pelvic strain. In the second quarter, San Antonio used great ball movement and shooting to increase its lead. Matt Bonner and Green each hit a pair of 3s as the Spurs went 5-of-6 from long distance during the quarter to take a 57-45 lead into the break on Ginobilis buzzer-beating triple. The Hornets limited San Antonio to 26.9 percent shooting in the third quarter, while hitting 9-of-15 shots themselves. Charlotte cut its deficit down to six points twice, but the Spurs did just enough to maintain their steady edge. Walkers bucket with 22 seconds to go trimmed San Antonios lead to 76-68 at the end of the third. Game Notes San Antonio has won eight straight against Charlotte ... Walker scored 25-or- more points for the sixth straight game ... With the win, Duncan and Tony Parker tied Robert Parish and Kevin McHale for second place in wins achieved as teammates with 656, all with the Spurs ... The season series will conclude on Jan. 28 in San Antonio. Brooks Robinson Jersey . Patty Mills had 20 points, Tim Duncan had 11 points and 13 rebounds in limited action, and San Antonio rolled to a 110-82 victory over Milwaukee that kept the Bucks winless in the new year. Joey Rickard Jersey . The 22-year-old slugger, who is no stranger to adversity, made up for it at the end. http://www.theoriolesteamshop.com/. He was 40. Firefighters were called about 11 a.m. Friday because Brown was unresponsive at his home near the Inner Harbor, fire spokesman Battalion Chief Kevin Cartwright said. He said Brown was dead when firefighters arrived. Manny Machado Jersey . He, the 25-year-old Toronto backup net-minder and Manitoba native, would be making just his fourth start in the past 16 games against the Jets the following evening. It was the word of opportunity for Reimer, who has fallen into the role of backup, outmatched in recent weeks by Jonathan Bernier, his Quebec counterpart. Pedro Alvarez Jersey . Lineup news, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Blake Comeau – The Penguins winger had a hat trick in a 4-3 overtime win against Toronto.In Canadian football, the potential of the games greatest players isnt always obvious during the early stages of their careers. And Anthony Calvillo is no exception. He came to the CFL in the most unusual of circumstances, the 21-year-old quarterback of a CFL expansion team in Las Vegas that spent its one and only season playing before crowds that resembled friends and family. That first season, he completed 44 per cent of his passes and threw more interceptions than touchdowns while the team stumbled to a 5-13 record and then folded. Had Calvillo hung up his cleats right then and there, no one would have blamed him. And no one would have remembered him, either. At that time, he was about as anonymous as a CFL player could be. All of which makes more remarkable the journey hes taken over the past 20 years, retiring as the all-time leading passer in pro football history, three Grey Cup rings and a legacy in Canadian football that is virtually unmatched. The lesson of Anthony Calvillos career is that those who become stars in the Canadian game are rarely those who possess eye-popping physical attributes, or who arrive with bona fide star power. They are, instead, usually players whose full skill sets arent obvious right away, requiring a combination of humility, determination, patience and smarts to reach their potential. And in Calvillos case, he needed every one of those qualities to get him to the top. Calvillos time in Las Vegas was followed by a move to Hamilton for three seasons where he served primarily as backup quarterback for the Tiger-Cats, followed by two more with Montreal where he once again played the understudy, this time under CFL great, Tracy Ham. If there was greatness ahead of him at that time, only Calvillo would have known it. Yet six years into his professional career, following Hams retirement after the 1999 season, Calvillo took the reins in Montreal looking like someone whod been succeeding at the Canadian game all his life. It turns out Calvillo had made good use of those first hallf-dozen years in the league, refining his craft, learning from his own mistakes and those of others, quietly turning himself into someone who was ready and able to engineer a CFL offence.dddddddddddd When his time came to become a starter with Montreal, he was meticulous and calm, the consummate professional who could command respect from those around him with his approach to the game and unmatched level of preparedness. Had his success come earlier in his career, Calvillo might not have lasted as long as he did in the CFL. But when the National Football League comes looking for players in Canada, it tends to value youth and overhwelming physical skills. To appreciate Anthony Calvillo, you couldnt just look at tape or watch him at a workout. You had to see him game-in and game-out to understand the consistency, how rarely his instincts betrayed him and what a winner he was. That recogntion didnt come quickly in Canada either, however. Consider that when TSN did its Top 50 all-time players list in 2006, a survey of football media from across the country, Calvillos name wasnt on it. It wasnt truly until the final half-dozen years of his career that Calvillo began to receive his due as one of the leagues all-time greats, as the success he accumulated year after year became impossible to ignore. Calvillo is the last player to have played for a U.S. expansion team to retire, closing the book on that desperate chapter of CFL history but at the same time reminding us it wasnt all bad. If it werent for the Las Vegas Posse, would Calvillo have ever played in the CFL? And even if he had surfaced elsewhere in the league, would his journey somehow have turned out differently? Its been a great ride for Anthony Calvillo, the rare CFL player who retires as a nationally recognized name in Canada. From the unlikeliest of beginnings to the highest of accolades, he earned everything he got along the way. Dave Naylor can be heard weekdays from 4pm-7pm as the host of TSN Drive on TSN Radio 1050 in Toronto. ' ' '