deal with a cross in the 65th minute and the 36-year-old

SAN ANTONIO - San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich can rest easy. The screaming criticism and back-slapping encouragement he doles out echo with the Spurs even when hes quietly resting at home.Tony Parker had 27 points and San Antonio held on to beat the Sacramento Kings 112-104 on Friday night — the second straight victory without its veteran head coach.Popovich missed his second game following a recent undisclosed minor medical procedure. His status is unknown for the teams upcoming four-game road trip, which begins Sunday in Boston, but he did visit with the team Friday morning.The fact that he was here this morning speaks for very, very good development of everything, San Antonio assistant Ettore Messina said. I didnt talk to him about it, but I would assume its moving in the right direction. I dont think he likes staying home and watching it on TV.Perhaps not, but he had to find some comfort in how the team performed.Messina helped San Antonio win its sixth straight victory and nine of 10 games after a 2-3 start.While acknowledging the soft-spoken Messina and fiery Popovich have different coaching styles, Parker said they both demand smart play.Were still going to run our stuff, Parker said. Its just a different voice. But I think in the locker room, we have a lot of respect for Messina. The European players, we all know what he did and what he accomplished. Hes definitely big time.San Antonio shot 51.2 per cent from the field, a season high this season against Sacramento along with the 112 points. The Spurs also shot 12 for 24 on 3-pointers and dished out 29 assists on 42 baskets.Kawhi Leonard scored 19 points, Tim Duncan had 18 points and Danny Green had 11 points for San Antonio (11-4).We werent in a position where we needed to be most of the time as far as our rotation, Kings point guard Darren Collison said. You cant do that against a team like the San Antonio Spurs. We werent good last game against Houston and this game against San Antonio we were worse than we were last game.The Kings were without leading scorer and rebounder DeMarcus Cousins, who woke up feeling sick, according to Sacramento coach Michael Malone.Collison and Rudy Gay returned to the lineup for the Kings after both missed the previous two games with injuries.The fact that both of those guys played I think is great, Malone said. They both are not 100 per cent, but when seeing DeMarcus out, they wanted to step up and try to help their teammates. Give them both a lot of credit for trying to gut it out.Gay had 23 points, Collison and Ryan Hollins added 15 points each and Ben McLemore scored 14 for Sacramento (9-7).Collison struggled staying in front of Parker, especially in the opening period. The veteran point guard had 11 points on 5-for-6 shooting in the first quarter and made his only 3-point attempt of the game.San Antonio did allow Sacramento to shoot 50.7 per cent from the field, but it was offset by a rhythmic offence that kept the Kings off balance.Today we were a little different than the games before, Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said. We were talking how reliable we were defensively lately and that our offence was not quite there. Today was the opposite. We shot well. We are shooting probably 30-something and today we shot 50 (per cent) from 3s. (We) moved the ball very well, got a lot of assists. Today, offensively we looked much better.___TIP-INSKings: Sacramento plays 10 of its next 11 games at home after completing their road trip Friday at 2-2. . The Kings are 8-0 when outshooting an opponent, and led in field goal percentage until about midway through the third quarter Friday.Spurs: Duncan has four 20-point, 20-rebound games in his career against Sacramento -- the most he has had against any NBA team. ... Duncan has played in 1,268 games, two shy of tying Boston Celtics legend John Havlicek for third with the most games played with a single team. Utahs John Stockton (1,504) and Indianas Reggie Miller (1,389) top the career list.UP NEXTKings: Host Memphis on Sunday.Spurs: At Boston on Sunday.TREY BIENParker made his only 3-point attempt, setting a league record for the best start from long range after 15 games.The veteran point guard from France is shooting 66.6 per cent on 16-for-24 shooting. Steve Smith shot 66.0 (31 for 47) in 2002 with the Spurs and Luke Walton 64.0 (16 for 25) in 2007 with the Lakers. Boston Celtics Store . -- The Minnesota Vikings released reserve cornerback A. Boston Celtics Gear ., will experience this week. A year in which the Canadian curling championship has been pushed forward a week to accommodate the Winter Olympics was deemed the perfect chance to stage the event in Montreal for the first time since 1979. https://www.cheapceltics.com/. -- Tony Finau won the Stonebrae Classic on Sunday for his first Web. Fake Celtics Jerseys . The 33-year-old defender has spent his entire career at Chelsea, scoring 57 goals in 621 appearances. He regained his regular starting place under Jose Mourinho in the season that ended at the weekend without Chelsea winning a trophy. Stitched Celtics Jerseys .ca Fantasy Editor Scott Cullen, NFL Editor Ben Fisher, and Isaac Owusu discuss three hot fantasy football topics.MILAN, Italy -- Inter Milan twice squandered the lead and missed a penalty as its Europa League hopes were dented by a 2-2 draw at home to relegation-threatened Bologna in Serie A on Saturday. Mauro Icardi scored twice for Inter but his goals were cancelled out by Michele Pazienza and Panagiotis Kone. Substitute Diego Milito had his penalty saved by Bologna goalkeeper Gianluca Curci six minutes from time after Rodrigo Palacio was hauled down by Andrea Mantovani. Inter, which was booed off the pitch at halftime and full time, remained fifth but Atalanta can close the gap to one point with a win over Sassuolo on Sunday. "I havent been talking about bad luck, but just certain episodes," Inter coach Walter Mazzarri said. "You only need to look at the goals we concede. A counterattack can happen, but the first equalizer went through a thousand legs. ... But thats our year. Its the fourth time weve thrown away points like this in a match we deserved to win." Bologna moved level with Chievo Verona, which lost a city derby 1-0 against Hellas Verona. They are two points above the relegation zone ahead of the rest of the weekends fixtures. Inter got off to a perfect start when Icardi volleyed home Yuto Nagatomos cross with less than six minutes on the clock. Bologna levelled 10 minutes from halftime. Inter goalkeeper Samir Handanovic made a fantastic save too deny Lazaros Christodoulopoulos from close range but the ball came out to Pazienza who drove a low shot in from the edge of the area.dddddddddddd. Icardi doubled his tally shortly after the hour mark when he curled a stunning effort from outside the area into the top far corner off the inside of the post. Inters defence was caught napping for Bolognas second equalizer 10 minutes later as Esteban Cambiasso and Rolando completely failed to deal with a cross and Kone tapped it in from five yards. Inter could have scored a late winner when it was awarded its first penalty of the season but Milito failed to get any power behind his spot kick and Curci parried comfortably. Bologna should have snatched a win but Handanovic pulled off a fantastic double save to deny substitute Robert Acquafresca from point-blank range. Luca Toni struck again in Verona. The Chievo defence failed to deal with a cross in the 65th minute and the 36-year-old Toni slotted home from six yards for his third goal in two matches and his 16th of the season. Verona had gone close to breaking the deadlock on several occasions, notably on the stroke of halftime when Hallfredssons 25-yard effort crashed off the top corner of the frame of the goal. Chievo almost snatched a draw but Cyril Thereau volleyed into the sidenetting. Verona moved provisionally a point off the Europa League places. ' ' '