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. 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Andre Reed Jersey .Y. -- Scott Chandler is returning to Buffalo, where he spent the past three seasons establishing himself as the Bills top pass-catching tight end. Jordan Poyer Bills Jersey . Hes had three top-10 results this season and feels ready to put it all together and finally hoist a trophy at the top level.HOUSTON -- Aaron Brooks had played just 15 minutes in his last six games and acknowledged he was a little shaky when he entered Houstons game against Minnesota late in the first quarter. It didnt take him long to settle down. Brooks scored a season-high 26 points to pick up the slack for the injured James Harden, and the Rockets beat the Timberwolves 112-101 on Saturday night. "When your All-Star goes out it takes a collective group to get it done," Brooks said. "Thats what we did -- everybody. Dwight (Howard) gave up a little bit of himself in scoring, passed it to others and we got the job done." Brooks, who entered the game averaging 2.8 points, had a big second quarter, making four 3-pointers and scoring 16 points. He finished with six 3-pointers. It was his most points since scoring 28 for the Rockets against Utah in April of 2010. Coach Kevin McHale talked about the challenge of Brooks stepping in when he hadnt been getting a lot of playing time. "Its very difficult," McHale said. "His second quarter was special. He really had it going. He was making shots. Aaron did a great job tonight." The Rockets led throughout, and Omri Casspi, Jeremy Lin and Brooks made consecutive 3-pointers in a 9-0 run to start the fourth quarter and extend the lead to 91-74. Harden, who leads the Rockets with 24.2 points per game, sat out with a sore left foot. Lin started in his place and scored 19, but it was Brooks who shined. "(Brooks) was amazing," Howard said. "Shot the ball well, played great defence ... (he) was a big reason why we won the game." Kevin Love had 27 points and 15 rebounds, and Corey Brewer scored 22 for the Timberwolves. "When you try to make runs they kept hitting 3s," Love said. "We showed fight, but in the end its really tough when the first three shots of the fourth quarter are from 3 and they hit three in a row." Brooks, whos in his second stint with the Rockets, is a crowd favourite and the home fans cheered wildly every time he entered the game. Brooks also had five assists, four rebounds and a steal. "Well, I coached him, so Ive seen him do that a lot,&" said Minnesota coach Rick Adelman, who coached Brooks in Houston from 2008-11.dddddddddddd "It doesnt surprise me." Patrick Beverley had 17 points and made a career-high five 3-pointers, and Terrence Jones added 18 points and had 10 rebounds for Houston. Howard had 11 points and led the team with 13 rebounds. McHale loved the balanced scoring effort with Harden out, but was unhappy that his team had 23 turnovers to just 10 by the Timberwolves. "I told our guys we have to play more efficiently and a little bit smarter," McHale said. "Weve got to create more space for each other on the floor so we can attack." The Rockets led 82-74 entering the fourth quarter. The Timberwolves used a 15-4 spurt in the third quarter, fueled by three 3-pointers, to cut Houstons lead to 65-57. Love made a 3-pointer before a turnover by Chandler Parsons that led to a dunk by Brewer capped the run. An exasperated McHale put his hands on his head as he watched Brewers dunk and quickly called a timeout. McHales short pep talk must have gotten Houstons attention. The Rockets responded with a 10-5 run to extend their lead to 75-62 with about 3 1/2 minutes left in the third quarter. The Rockets led by eight points late in the second quarter before using a 9-2 run thanks to three straight 3-pointers, including two by Brooks, to stretch the lead to 52-37. Minnesota scored five quick points on a dunk by Kevin Martin and a 3-pointer from Brewer to close the gap. But Lin sunk a 3-pointer at the buzzer to extend Houstons lead to 55-42 at halftime. NOTES: McHale said Harden visited a doctor on Saturday and they are going to change his treatment plan. He said Harden will likely miss Mondays game as well. ... Lin had a bump on his forehead and was holding ice on it after the game. It was unclear how he was injured and he wasnt available to reporters after the game because he was seeing a doctor. ... Also out for the Rockets on Saturday were Ronnie Brewer, who has a strained right calf, and Greg Smith, who has a sprained right knee. ... It was Howards ninth double-double of the season. ... Ricky Rubio had eight assists for Minnesota. ' ' '