Defending champion San Antonio kicked off the regular season of National Basketball Association (NBA) as Tony Parker scored 23 points to lift the Spurs past the Dallas Mavericks 101-100 at the AT&T Center in San Antonio on Tuesday.

Maverick shooting guard Monta Ellis along with power forward Dirk Nowitzki  led Dallas to an eight point lead at the end of the first half 53-45 but San Antonio outscored the Mavs 31-20 in the third quarter through the efforts of Parker and Manu Ginobli which gave them a three point the lead.

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It looked like San Antonio was about to break away in the fourth quarter as they extended their lead to 10 points from a Tim Duncan 10-footer with 6:31 remaining in the game but Dallas came back to tie the score at 98 apiece with a 1:51 left to go.

Duncan missed a layup opportunity as Nowtizki cleared the boards with a defensive rebound and passed the ball to point guard Devin Harris who rewarded the power forward with an assist for a Nowizki jumper to give the Mavs a two point lead with 1:28 left.

San Antonio brings down the ball and Boris Diaw passed the ball to Parker who converted a 24-foot three point jumper to lift the Spurs past Dallas.

Parker scored team-high with 23 points followed by Ginobili, who came off the bench to score 20 points. Duncan contributed with a double-double, 14 points and 13 rebounds.

Ellis led Dallas with 26 points and six assists while Nowitzski contributed 18 points and six rebounds.

"It was a great basketball game, you can't kick off the season with a better game than this for the fans," Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. "Unfortunately, the slim margins of winning and losing are all that anybody remembers. If we get one more stop one more basket than we're all here singing a different tune. "

The Spurs won over Dallas in last year's playoffs 4-3 in their best-of-7 series, San Antonio's toughest encounter during their championship year.

TagsTony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Tim Duncan, Dirk Nowitzski, Monta Ellis