Spurs win seventh in row, close on first place in West

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The San Antonio Spurs won their seventh consecutive game, crushing the Houston Rockets 109-88 to move within a percentage point of first place in the Western Conference on Sunday.

Michael Finley and Tony Parker scored 22 points each for the Spurs, who trail the New Orleans Hornets for the Western lead.

San Antonio (51-23) has one more win and one more loss than New Orleans (50-22), which defeated the Toronto Raptors 118-111 on Sunday.

The Spurs have not lost since a 93-91 home defeat by the NBA-leading Boston Celtics on March 17.

"Michael Finley came out on fire today," Parker told reporters after his team mate hit nine of 13 shots.

"We are starting to play good basketball and starting to get ready for the playoffs," Parker added.

The game was the Spurs' 18th game in March, including six back-to-back.

"It was tough," Parker said. "We had that little run when we lost a few in a row (four straight) but .... I thought we rebounded well after the loses."

Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said the month may have been the toughest the NBA champions have faced.

"I think we got better in the month, so that's the most important part," he told reporters.

Popovich was especially pleased with the Spurs' defense.

"That's what fuelled us to get the win against a really good team," he said.

Manu Ginobili added 14 points and Tim Duncan contributed 13.

Former Spurs draft choice Luis Scola led the Rockets with 24 points.

"We just didn't play well," Houston head coach Rick Adelman told reporters. "We are really missing Yao (Ming) and San Antonio was just making their jump shots."

Center Yao suffered a stress fracture in his foot and underwent season-ending surgery in early March.

He hopes to return in time to play for China in August's Beijing Olympics.

(Writing by Gene Cherry in Salvo, North Carolina; Editing by Ed Osmond)