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Tony Parker made a clutch shot in the fourth quarter. Manu Ginobili had a big game, and Tim Duncan contributed with a double-double.
San Antonio's efficient performance on opening night looked awfully familiar.
Parker put them ahead with a three-pointer with one minute and seven seconds left, and the Spurs began their title defence with a thrilling 101-100 victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
Parker finished with 23 points and Ginobili scored 20 for San Antonio, who shot 53 per cent from the field.

	It was a great basketball game. You can't kick off the season with a better game than this for the fans - there's no way

	Rick Carlisle, Dallas coach
Tim Duncan had 14 points and 13 rebounds for his 14th double-double in a season opener, the most by any player in NBA history, according to Elias Sports.
Dirk Nowitzki gave Dallas a 100-98 lead with a fadeaway jumper over Boris Diaw with 1:37 remaining, but Parker drained a three-pointer 30 seconds later in front of the Mavericks' bench off a feed from Diaw.
Parker was four for four from long range, matching a career high for three-pointers in a game.
"It was a great basketball game. You can't kick off the season with a better game than this for the fans - there's no way," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said.
"Unfortunately, the slim margins of winning and losing are all that anybody remembers.
"If we got one more stop or one more basket, then we would all be here singing a different tune. That's the world we live in the Western Conference."
Monta Ellis scored 26 points for Dallas, and Nowitzki had 18. Devin Harris finished with 17. Chandler Parsons, who signed with the Mavericks in the off season, missed a three-pointer with 0.4 of a second remaining. His shot hit the front of the rim.
The miss extended San Antonio's streak to five wins following a championship celebration, but it was the first since capturing their last title in 2007.

"It's special," Ginobili said. "I think it helps you actually. Sometimes you don't play that sharp because it's the first game of the season. You have to move from the success of the previous season to the new beginning. But it all gets your emotions up, so you want to get out on the court and do a lot of things, hustle, jump, run and win."
Following a video recap of the 2014 season narrated by actor and Spurs fan Samuel L. Jackson, NBA commissioner Adam Silver presented San Antonio's staff and players with their championship rings. The ring inscription was "Good to Great", which was coach Gregg Popovich's mantra last season.
The ceremony even drew a series of fist pumps from the normally stoic Popovich.
It was the first meeting between the teams since Dallas took San Antonio to seven games in the opening round of the play-offs last season - the Spurs' toughest test during their run to a fifth NBA championship. The rematch proved just as tense after a sluggish beginning.
San Antonio committed five turnovers in the first eight minutes and missed their first three shots before returning to the fluid offence that led to a five-game rout of the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals.
In Los Angeles, James Harden scored 32 points, Dwight Howard added 13 points and 11 rebounds before getting into a shouting match with Kobe Bryant, as the Houston Rockets spoiled the 36-year-old's return with a 108-90 victory over the Lakers.
Bryant's comeback game got even worse when Lakers rookie forward Julius Randle broke his right leg in the fourth quarter, leaving his NBA debut on a wheeled stretcher. Bryant scored 19 points in his first game back at Staples Centre after missing most of the Lakers' worst season in 50 years with two major injuries.


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NBA season 2014-15

Parker's shot a perfect end to Spurs' thriller

San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker celebrates after their 101-100 NBA win over the Dallas Mavericks. Photo: AP

Trevor Ariza of the Houston Rockets harrasses Kobe Bryant of the Lakers. Photo: EPA

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San Antonio begin NBA title defence with efficient victory over Mavericks thanks to three-pointer in dying minutes of their season opener
