With injuries zapping any offense San Antionio is accustomed to generating, the Spurs have fallen back on what they do best. Play defense.

Tim Duncan scored 22 points, but his defense helped the Spurs avoid another loss in their injury-plagued early season.

Duncan blocked Aaron Brooks’ layup with a second left in the Spurs’ 77-75 victory over the Houston Rockets on Friday night.

“What can you say about Tim Duncan that hasn’t already been said,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “He provides the leadership on this team. He is the center of the program.”

The Rockets (5-4) scored their final points with 4:44 left on the clock. San Antonio scored the game’s final 12 points, including a running hook shot by Duncan that gave the Spurs a 76-75 lead with 59 seconds left.

Rookie George Hill, playing in place of the injured Tony Parker at point guard, added 17 points to help San Antonio—down 14 points with 7:37 to go— improve to 3-5. San Antonio also is awaiting the return of Manu Ginobili from an ankle injury.

Billy Gillispie didn’t mention Gardner-Webb, but his postgame assessment was verbatim from the last time his Kentucky team was shocked like this.

“They whipped us,” Gillispie said of the Wildcats’ 111-103 upset to Virginia Military Institute Friday night.

The upset came just over a year after Gardner-Webb’s 84-68 stunner over the Wildcats in Gillispie’s second game as coach. The sequel came in the opener of year two, which was supposed to be a tuneup for the Wildcats’ trip to No. 1 North Carolina next week.

After spending a season trying to live down the fact that they got “Gardner-Webbed,” perhaps it’s time to change the moniker. In many respects, this one was worse for college basketball’s all-time winningest program.

VMI’s shoot-first approach was lethal to Kentucky’s youthful backcourt. Not since 1989 against North Carolina had a Kentucky team given up so many points, although it was also the first time in five years the Wildcats had passed the century mark.

“Credit to my kids, they just went out and did it and believed,” said VMI coach Duggar Baucom

The new-look Detroit Pistons still have the Los Angeles Lakers’ number.

Rasheed Wallace had 25 points and 13 rebounds, Allen Iverson added 25 points and the Pistons handed the Lakers their first loss of the season, 106-95 Friday night.

The win was the Pistons’ eighth in the last 10 meetings.

Kobe Bryant scored 29 points for the Lakers, but went 12-of-30 from the floor.

“We just played a good all-around game,” Iverson said after the Pistons won for the third time since his arrival from Denver five games ago. “It’s just about playing basketball, understanding what we want to do on the basketball court.

“We didn’t feel like it would take long, but we knew it would be kind of shaky in the beginning because I’m a totally different player than Chauncey Billups. I’m a lot more aggressive when it comes to driving to the basket, so my teammates have to know what spot I want them to be in to be able to create shots for them.”

Philadelphia 76ers coach Maurice Cheeks gave his team a simple yet effective message after the first quarter against Indiana.

His players responded Friday night, overcoming a 26-point deficit to beat the Pacers 94-92.

”I told them to keep fighting,” Cheeks said following a dismal first quarter, which ended with the Pacers ahead 38-13. ”We just hung in there, we didn’t stop.”

The 76ers took their coach’s words to heart, tying it at 90 on Andre Iguodala ’s free throw with 3:14 left in the fourth quarter. They gained their first lead, 92-90, on Andre Miller ’s layup.

”It’s hard to hold a lead like that because a team is going to fight,” said Miller, who finished with 19 points.

Thaddeus Young ’s two free throws capped a 9-0 run by the 76ers and gave them a 94-90 advantage with 1:31 left. Danny Granger ’s jumper made it 94-92 and, following a missed shot by Elton Brand , the Pacers had a chance to tie it or take the lead. However, Marquis Daniels missed a wide open 3-pointer with time winding down.

”It was a great comeback by Philadelphia,” Indiana coach Jim O’Brien said. ”Sometimes you get too big a lead early in the game - and the NBA is a game of momentum shifts.”

Young had 25 points and 10 rebounds, Brand added 14 points and 15 rebounds, and Iguodala finished with 10 points and 10 rebounds for the Philadelphia (4-5), which snapped a three-game losing streak against the Pacers.

The 76ers have been on both sides of losing a big lead. They gave up a 23-point advantage to Atlanta in a 95-88 defeat on Nov. 1.

”Atlanta did that to us early in the season, so it gave us confidence to know, ‘Hey, we can do it to somebody else,”’ Brand said.

Granger had 18 points, Daniels finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, and T.J. Ford added 12 points and seven assists for Indiana (4-4). The Pacers tried to make sense of the loss.

”We let our guard down and quit executing what got us the lead,” said Pacers center Jeff Foster , who finished with 10 points and 11 rebounds. ”To their credit, they stayed aggressive and never gave up.”

The Pacers jumped out to a 9-0 lead before Philadelphia got on the scoreboard on Samuel Dalembert ’s dunk nearly 4 minutes into the game. The 76ers started 0-of-7 from the field and finished the first quarter 5-of-21.

Indiana, which shot 59 percent and hit four of eight 3-point attempts, took a 38-13 lead on Jarrett Jack ’s layup to end the first period. The Pacers tied a season high for points in a quarter, while the 76ers tied a season low.

After falling behind by 26 points to begin the second quarter, Philadelphia slowly chipped away at the deficit, eventually getting to 57-49 on Brand’s free throw late in the first half. Young had 12 points in the period.

”We missed a lot of shots in the first quarter, but we knew the next three quarters we had to dig in and keep fighting,” Young said. ”We were just so happy to get out of here with a win.”

Notes: Pacers G Mike Dunleavy (sore right knee) missed Friday’s game and has yet to play this season. … Granger started after missing Wednesday night’s victory over New Jersey with a thigh cramp. … Pacers rookie G Brandon Rush and 76ers G Kareem Rush both entered the game with 4:31 left in the first quarter. It was the first time the brothers have faced each other in the NBA. During the second quarter, a Pacers fan yelled to Kareem Rush , ”Hey Kareem, can you get me your brother’s autograph?” Kareem, sitting on the bench, looked back and smiled.

Celtics and Cavaliers tip it off tonight. The NBA season tips off tonight (7 p.m., TNT) amid pomp and circumstance in Boston. The Celtics will unfurl their championship banner, and there will be the ring ceremony. Boston’s chief threat to Eastern Conference supremacy — LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers — are the guests. The Western Conference champion Los Angeles Lakers also open at home tonight (9:30, TNT) against the young and talented Portland Trail Blazers. The Chicago Bulls and Milwaukee Bucks will meet in tonight’s other game. Read the full story

Kobe Bryant will not have surgery on his right pinkie because recovery would take too long. Bryant has played with damaged ligaments in the finger since February, but said Tuesday that he won’t have surgery after seeking opinions from hand specialists. “When the doctors told me recovery from a procedure could be 12 weeks, I just decided now was not the time to have surgery,” Bryant said on the Web site kb24.com. “What it really came down to for me is that I just didn’t want to miss any time ‘punching the clock’ for the Lakers, given all we are trying to accomplish as a team this NBA season.” Bryant averaged 28.3 points while playing in all 82 games despite injuring the finger Feb. 5 against the New Jersey Nets. The Lakers guard put off the surgery until after the Beijing Olympics, where he helped lead the United States to the gold medal. The Lakers open training camp Sept. 27 and start the regular season at home against the Portland Trail Blazers on Oct. 28.

All-Star forward reportedly being lured by Greek team Olympiakos

BEIJING - NBA scoring champion LeBron James said on Friday a move overseas at the end of his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2010 was a possibility. “Growing up you never think about any other league besides the NBA,” James told reporters at a press conference on the starting day of the Olympics. “But things are changing really fast and you never know. I can’t throw all my eggs in one basket. There are going to be a lot of opportunities for me in 2010 to decide if I want to stay with Cleveland or if I want to go elsewhere. Read the full story

Nikolai Valuev will fight John Ruiz for the vacant WBA heavyweight title before August 31. After Ruslan Chagaev pulled out of his mandatory defence against the Russian Giant for the second time in a row, the WBA decided in Buenos Aires on Thursday that the two ex-champions will face each other. “We wanted Nikolai Valuev to fight for the title as soon as possible,” Sauerland managing director Chris Meyer said. “We consider the WBA`s decision a big success.” Read the full story

The Tampa Bay Rays are taking a business-as-usual approach to their position atop the AL East. Matt Garza pitched seven strong innings in his first outing since throwing a one-hitter, and the Rays beat Boston and nemesis Tim Wakefield 3-1 on Tuesday night to extend their lead in the division to a season-best 2½ games over the second-place Red Sox. Read the full story

The greatest closer in the NBA instead focused on being a quick starter in Game 5. Kobe Bryant’s teammates picked up the slack from there, and that’s why the Los Angeles Lakers are still alive in the NBA finals.A great night from the MVP won’t do the Lakers much good as they try to become the first NBA team to rally from a 3-1 deficit in the finals. What the Lakers really need is a few good nights from the rest of the team. “A lot of people say, ‘Kobe, you have to go out for 40 or 50,’ but that’s not how we play,” Bryant said. “That’s not what’s going to win championships. We’ve got to stick together, ride this out as a unit, and that’s what we’re going to do.” Read the full story