SAN ANTONIO — The Brooklyn Nets ended 2012 a few hours earlier than most.
Tony Parker had 20 points and the San Antonio Spurs held the Nets to only five points in the third quarter en route to a 104-73 win Monday night.
MarShon Brooks had a season-high 16 points to lead Brooklyn (16-15), which suffered its first loss under interim head coach P.J. Carlesimo. Joe Johnson added 12 points and Brook Lopez had 11, but Deron Williams was held to eight points and one assist.
San Antonio set a franchise low for fewest points by an opponent in the third quarter when it held the Nets to 10 percent shooting (2-for-20).
“I’m actually surprised it wasn’t worse,” Carlesimo said.
Tim Duncan added 15 points and Nando DeColo had 11, while Kawhi Leonard, Tiago Splitter and Matt Bonner chipped in 10 apiece for San Antonio (25-8), which won its sixth game in a row.
The Spurs had seven players score in the third, with Duncan scoring seven and Parker adding five points and three assists.
The Nets missed six 3-point attempts in the third quarter and also had seven turnovers.
“It was bad all the way around — offensively and defensively,” Williams said. “We just couldn’t put the ball in the basket. We couldn’t get stops. We turned the ball over in the quarter.”
“I thought Tony (Parker) set the tone for us,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “ … I thought he was fantastic and everybody followed suit.”
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