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SAN ANTONIO -- The San Antonio Spurs are still not sure why theyre playing so poorly at home.They certainly arent panicking, though. A 16-4 start, including an 11-0 road record, will soothe most fears.Kawhi Leonard scored 23 points, including the winning jumper with 6 seconds left, and the Spurs overcame another sluggish start in their own building to beat the Washington Wizards 107-105 on Friday night.After matching an NBA record with a 40-1 mark at home last season, San Antonio has already lost four times at the AT&T Center and was seconds from dropping a fifth.We cant get it going, said super-sub Manu Ginobili, whose efforts energized the Spurs. Its taking us a while to get into the rhythm, into the aggressiveness that we need to get leads. Yeah, we are not playing well, but the good thing is that meanwhile were getting wins and were maintaining a good record.LaMarcus Aldridge added 19 points and Pau Gasol had 19 points and 10 rebounds for San Antonio, which won its 17th straight home game against Washington.Bradley Beal was 5 for 5 on 3-pointers in scoring 23 points for the Wizards.Beals final 3 gave Washington a 103-102 lead with 53 seconds remaining. Danny Greens 3-pointer, his first points of the night, put San Antonio ahead 105-103 with 19 seconds to go.John Wall tied it at 105 with 11.2 seconds left on a driving layup against Ginobili before Leonard rose for a 20-foot jumper at the top of the key. Otto Porter Jr. missed a 9-foot runner off a Washington inbounds play that would have tied the game.The first look was (Beal) coming off of the curl, Wizards coach Scott Brooks said. They did a good job of switching. ... But we had a good look.Washington has just one victory in eight road games, but its fortunes were lifted by the Spurs struggles at home this season.San Antonio trailed after the first quarter for the fifth time in nine home games. The Spurs scored only 24 points, falling behind by as many as 11 before closing the first quarter trailing 28-24.It seems like in the second half our defense always picks up and we get back into the games because of the defense, coach Gregg Popovich said. Thats a good thing, I guess, that it gets better as the game goes along, but weve started out poorly here at home quite often.The second unit again came to San Antonios rescue, led by the 39-year-old Ginobili. He banked in a 14-footer at the close of the first half off an inbounds play that had the Wizards scrambling to find their man.In the third quarter, Ginobili helped the Spurs avoid a backcourt violation on an errant pass by tossing the ball back before tumbling to the backcourt after a leaping, one-handed grab. The save led to a jumper by Aldridge that cut Washingtons lead to 71-66.Those are the kind of plays hes made his whole career, Popovich said.Ginobili finished with 13 points.San Antonios bench outscored Washingtons 11-2 in the third quarter, leading the Spurs to their first lead (78-76) since the opening minute of the game.We let another one go, Wall said. These are the ones at the end of the season when you look back at games where you could have made the playoffs, there are about seven games already this season for us that could haunt us.Wizards center Marcin Gortat had 21 points and 18 rebounds, collecting his 11th double-double of the season in the first half.TIP-INSWizards: Washingtons last victory in San Antonio was Dec. 11, 1999. ... Wizards C Ian Mahinmi (sore right knee) and F Danuel House Jr. (broken right wrist) missed the game with injuries.Spurs: PG Tony Parker sat out with a bruised left quadriceps, missing his fifth game this season. ... San Antonio, which entered leading the NBA in free throw percentage, opened 1 for 6 from the line. ... The Spurs have won 19 of 21 against the Wizards overall.THATS NUTSPopovich is puzzled as to why people believe Spurs reserve guard Patty Mills has so much more energy than the rest of his teammates.Mills finished with 10 points and eight assists in 28 minutes.I dont know if its because hes not very tall and he runs around real quick or something, but everybody else has energy, too, Popovich said. They might not look like it, because theyre not built like . Im not going to say. Hes just smaller and he runs around. Like a squirrel looks like he has more energy than an elephant, right?Mills, listed at 6 feet, wasnt sure how to take Popovichs comparison, so he decided discretion was the better part of valor.Uh, Id rather stay on this team for now and not make any comment, he said, laughing afterward.BATTLE OF THE BIG MENGasol and Gortat combined for 40 points and 28 rebounds while battling in the paint for much of the game.It was a rare battle between big men in a league that has become dominated by wing players.You dont see it very often, Popovich said. It was fun. Pau did a great job being more aggressive offensively.UP NEXTWizards: At Brooklyn on Monday.Spurs: At Milwaukee on Monday. MLB Jerseys China . The Dutchmans tenure got off to a poor start when referee Guido Winkmann awarded a penalty within two minutes for Niklas Starks clumsy challenge on Alexandru Maxim. Wholesale NFL Jerseys Jerseys . -- Five former Kansas City Chiefs players who were on the team between 1987 and 1993 filed a lawsuit Tuesday claiming the team hid and even lied about the risks of head injuries during that time period when there was no collective bargaining agreement in place in the NFL. http://www.cheapcnjerseystousa.com/ . Gerald Green and Miles Plumlee? Green had bounced around the NBA when he wasnt playing overseas. The Pacers gave up on Plumlee after just one season. Now Green and Plumlee are key cogs in the Suns surprising breakout season. Cheap Jerseys USA . -- Peyton Manning will have all of his wide receivers available for the first time in a month when the Denver Broncos begin their playoff run Jan. China Jerseys Authentic . -- Al Jefferson found a groove just in time for the Charlotte Bobcats. GOTHENBURG, Sweden -- Team USA needs to decide which goalie will be its No. 1 starter.Team Canada has some questions on defense.Team North America is loaded with dynamic and exciting young talent but lacks veteran leadership.The Russians havent had much success on the international scale of late.Team Europe is a group of players without a country.Finland also has to settle on its starting goaltender.The Czechs have been slashed with injuries to key players.So what are the issues for Team Sweden? Absolutely nothing.The Swedes, fresh off a silver medal at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics, are solid in every aspect of the game. Its chemistry, depth, talent and consistency are four reasons Team Sweden will win the World Cup of Hockey in Toronto.Its more than just a gut-check prediction.Each of these eight teams in this tournament are loaded with the best players in the world, so it shouldnt take long for every team to mesh during training camp. But after scouting Team Sweden for the first three days of camp, its as though this group has been playing together forever. In some cases, many of these players have, especially on the international level. The majority of this roster played in the last Olympics, and combined its players have 815 games with the national team.Theres a calm demeanor about Sweden. Its players collectively ooze a quiet confidence.Obviously, we want to win it, said forward Nicklas Backstrom. Ultimately, thats our goal. Were striving for that, but we know there are a lot of good teams out there, so we really have to play our best.Theres no blah-blah-blah to this teams chemistry.Its huge, Backstrom said. If you look at teams that have been successful, its always the team that really gets together and plays as a team. Its so important. Weve got to get everything together. Its been good so far, but were starting games [Thursday], so itll be interesting.Henrik Lundqvist is the No. 1 goalie now and for the foreseeable future, until he decides to give up his throne. Coach Rikard Gronborg can still be flexible with his lines and defensive pairings, but things appear pretty much set. Special teams looked fantastic during the first week of training camp. The players are focused and jovial as they prepare for a pair of preseason games against Finland on Thursday and Saturday before both teams travel to Washington, D.C., to continue the World Cup pre-tournament season.Sweden is the poster child for consistency -- and conformity.Everyone knows their role from the get-go, said defenseman Victor Hedman. We had a couple of meetings during August in Stockholm and went through the way we want to play and whos going to play where, so we had time to prepare. Its on everyone to bring their best to every game. Thats something were really looking forward to, and well try to play at our best when the World Cup starts.It starts in net.Lundqvist, who will not play in the first pre-tournament game against Finland, has been working hard in practice. Hes been getting plenty of reps and is fighting for every puck, even those third and fourth chances during drills. There was some concern that he could miss time after he took a puck to the ribs in practice last week, but he said he will play through thee soreness because it doesnt affect his game.ddddddddddddIts likely he will play in the second pre-tournament game against Finland on Saturday at Scadinavium in Gothenburg. Theres no doubt hes focused on the task at hand.This past month, Ive been skating harder than Ive done before just to prepare for this and prepare for the new season with the?New York Rangers. I feel like its an important year, Lundqvist said.Swedens special teams are potent. The first power-play unit features?Loui Eriksson, Henrik Sedin and Daniel Sedin, along with defensemen Erik Karlsson and Oliver Ekman-Larsson. If that lineup doesnt scare you, Sweden follows with forwards Backstrom, Patric Hornqvist, Gabriel Landeskog and Filip Forsberg, with Anton Stralman running the back end. And dont be surprised to see Karlsson play the majority of the minutes on the power play because of his striking offensive ability.A major strength for Sweden is its ability to control the puck. These players are known for their hockey sense and can slow the game down and turn it into a thinking persons game. Eriksson is a master at doing this, and playing alongside the Sedins should allow him to make it even more difficult on his opponents.Each day after practice, Swedens centers have worked on faceoffs for more than 30 minutes. A team with such strong puck-possession skills needs to control faceoffs.Well, we recognized -- when we sat down and looked at our faceoff percentage last year for our centermen in the National Hockey League -- [that] its obviously not very good, Gronborg said. Its a big emphasis for us. And in a puck-possession game, theres no better way to gain possession of the puck than to win the faceoffs. It would be stupid for us not to work on it and emphasize it in practice, so thats what were trying to do.Before training camp, Swedens roster took a hit, losing captain Henrik Zetterberg, goalie Robin Lehner, defenseman Niklas Kronwall and forward Alexander Steen. Replacments were forwards Rickard Rakell, Mikael Backlund, goalie Jhonas Enroth and defenseman Hampus Lindholm. Backlund and Lindholm will not dress for the first pre-tournament game against Finland, Gronborg announced Wednesday.Even as Sweden prepares to compete on the international stage, the memory of its loss to Canada in the gold-medal game in Sochi is still fresh. Despite their professed one-game-at-a-time mentality, theres no doubt the Swedes would love another shot against Canada.Everybody who comes here, everybody who sits here, wants to win, Karlsson said. We dont want to go to have fun and not win. We want to go there have fun, play hard and win. That rubs off on the rest of the people in our nation, and theyre starting to expect it as well.Despite the underdog classification, Karlsson said it wouldnt be a surprise if Sweden beat Canada. In fact, you cant consider Sweden a long shot. Its the top team in the tournament.Weve beaten them before and we can beat them, Karlsson said. We know we can beat them. If we do, which I hope we do, if it ever comes down to it, it wont be a shock, but it would definitely be a big thing. ' ' '