A two-point loss may look respectable, but Sacramento's 115-113 defeat by the San Antonio Spurs Tuesday night at Arco Arena was as painful as any of their recent losses.

The defeat in front of 12,934 fans included a Tyreke Evans scoring burst of 13 points during the game's final 1:39, which helped the Kings close what was a 107-94 Spurs advantage with 2:23 remaining.

Evans returned to action Tuesday night after missing Monday night's loss in Denver.

The rookie scored a career-high-tying 32 points to lead all scorers and also had a team-high seven rebounds and eight assists. However, neither he nor his teammates could prevent the Spurs (28-19) from winning their 13th game in their past 14 games against the Kings.

San Antonio, which played without point guard Tony Parker (sprained left ankle), began its annual eight-game road trip with double-digit scoring from six players.

Second-year point guard George Hill stepped into Parker's shoes and scored a career-high-tying and team-high 23 points, and handed out a career-high nine assists in 42 minutes.

Steady Tim Duncan scored 22 points and grabbed a game-high 13 rebounds despite playing just 29 minutes because of early foul trouble.

Super substitute Manu Ginobili scored 20 points and had six assists in 29 minutes. Ginobili's ability to slash through the lane highlighted and attacked a major Kings defensive weakness.

Said Kings coach Paul Westphal of the Spurs as well as his squad, "(The Spurs) played 48 minutes of tough, smart basketball. They knocked down shots and exploited us. They really are great at getting to the basket and we are very poor at protecting the basket." 

Moreover, the Kings played without power forward Jason Thompson, who is expected to miss two games to attend a funeral.

Thompson, whose six-week slump has coincided with Sacramento's 18 losses in its past 21 games, could have been used around the basket against the fundamentally sound Spurs.

San Antonio had a fourth player - DeJuan Blair - reach the 20-point mark. The 37th pick overall in the 2009 NBA Draft, Blair made his first nine field-goal attempts on the way to 20 points.

Westphal, whose Kings three times passed up Blair in the draft, joked about it after the game.

Blair's knees were ruled too troublesome by many doctors and that's why his first-round talents and skills dropped into the second round.

"I don't know who those doctors were that said (Blair's) knees weren't OK to draft," Westphal said. "(It looks) like they flunked out of college and should be driving a cab, because that guy is unbelievable."

The Kings certainly were competitive with the Spurs. The game had 15 lead changes and was tied 15 times. But the Kings never could gain any control in the contest.

Kings center Spencer Hawes made nine of 14 field-goal attempts en route to 18 points. "That is like our theme," said Hawes. "We get too far down and we go and try to make a comeback. We just fall too short."

 The Kings meet visiting Phoenix Friday night.