duncan228
02-11-2009, 11:55 PM
Victory escapes Spurs (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Victory_escapes_Spurs.html)
Jeff McDonald
TORONTO — Maybe the Spurs were due.
Maybe it wasn't fair to expect them to win every close game. Maybe Roger Mason Jr. can't be called upon to fly out of his phone booth at the end of every fourth quarter.
Maybe Matt Bonner isn't the second coming of Larry Bird. And maybe sometimes even Roko Ukic has his day.
The factors were many, yet the result was singular. With two starters on the bench with injuries Wednesday night, the short-handed Toronto Raptors sent the Spurs into the All-Star break on the wrong end of a 91-89 thriller at Air Canada Centre.
“That's why it's a game. That's why you play them,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Things don't always go the way the percentages say.”
Indeed, there were no Vegas odds on this.
Ukic, a 24-year-old rookie earning playing time only by virtue of Jose Calderon's recalcitrant hamstring, made the second-biggest shot of the game, burying a 3-pointer with 49.9 seconds left to transform a four-point Toronto deficit into one.
Twenty seconds later, he made the biggest shot of the game, floating a 7-footer over Tony Parker and past Tim Duncan to give the Raptors their final lead.
Ukic finished with 22 points, easily his season high. Before Wednesday, he had scored 15, total, in all of February.
Unlike many in the building Wednesday, Spurs guard Manu Ginobili was not caught off-guard by Ukic's outburst.
“A lot of NBA players and media tend to underestimate players from overseas,” Ginobili said. “We know each other. I saw him in the Olympics (with Croatia). So it's not a surprise.”
The Spurs (35-16) had two chances to either go ahead or tie after Ukic's final basket.
First, a hard-charging Ginobili missed a drive over a hard-charging Jermaine O'Neal.
After O'Neal made just one of two free throws to nudge Toronto's lead to two points with 7.2 seconds left, Popovich called a timeout and drew up a play.
Almost immediately, things went haywire. Michael Finley bobbled a pass and had to pass up an open 3-pointer. He shuffled the ball to Parker, who had to force a going-nowhere jumper over O'Neal as time expired.
With that, the Spurs had lost just their second game by three points or less since October.
“It happens,” Parker said. “We won a lot of games close this year. Sometimes, you're going to lose games like that.”
Toronto (21-34) survived a pre-break parting shot from Ginobili, who equaled a season high with 32 points. It was the third time in six games he'd cracked 30.
Parker added 22 for the Spurs, who lost in Canada for the first time since 2004. Duncan had 20 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists for his league-leading ninth 20-10-5 effort of the season.
The rest of the Spurs roster, however, combined to score just 15. Notably, Bonner — after putting up 45 points in his previous two games — went 0 for 4 and was scoreless.
In addition to Calderon, the Raptors were also without All-Star forward Chris Bosh, who missed his fourth straight game with a sprained knee. His absence opened up more touches for Jason Kapono (21 points) and Andrea Bargnani (23).
Ukic's game-changing 3-pointer was not in his scouting report. His 3-point percentage before Wednesday: a not-so-sizzling 18.9.
“He shoots like 20 percent,” Parker noted. “That's what we wanted.”
But the percentages weren't with the Spurs on Wednesday. They were due. And Ukic had his day.
Jeff McDonald
TORONTO — Maybe the Spurs were due.
Maybe it wasn't fair to expect them to win every close game. Maybe Roger Mason Jr. can't be called upon to fly out of his phone booth at the end of every fourth quarter.
Maybe Matt Bonner isn't the second coming of Larry Bird. And maybe sometimes even Roko Ukic has his day.
The factors were many, yet the result was singular. With two starters on the bench with injuries Wednesday night, the short-handed Toronto Raptors sent the Spurs into the All-Star break on the wrong end of a 91-89 thriller at Air Canada Centre.
“That's why it's a game. That's why you play them,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Things don't always go the way the percentages say.”
Indeed, there were no Vegas odds on this.
Ukic, a 24-year-old rookie earning playing time only by virtue of Jose Calderon's recalcitrant hamstring, made the second-biggest shot of the game, burying a 3-pointer with 49.9 seconds left to transform a four-point Toronto deficit into one.
Twenty seconds later, he made the biggest shot of the game, floating a 7-footer over Tony Parker and past Tim Duncan to give the Raptors their final lead.
Ukic finished with 22 points, easily his season high. Before Wednesday, he had scored 15, total, in all of February.
Unlike many in the building Wednesday, Spurs guard Manu Ginobili was not caught off-guard by Ukic's outburst.
“A lot of NBA players and media tend to underestimate players from overseas,” Ginobili said. “We know each other. I saw him in the Olympics (with Croatia). So it's not a surprise.”
The Spurs (35-16) had two chances to either go ahead or tie after Ukic's final basket.
First, a hard-charging Ginobili missed a drive over a hard-charging Jermaine O'Neal.
After O'Neal made just one of two free throws to nudge Toronto's lead to two points with 7.2 seconds left, Popovich called a timeout and drew up a play.
Almost immediately, things went haywire. Michael Finley bobbled a pass and had to pass up an open 3-pointer. He shuffled the ball to Parker, who had to force a going-nowhere jumper over O'Neal as time expired.
With that, the Spurs had lost just their second game by three points or less since October.
“It happens,” Parker said. “We won a lot of games close this year. Sometimes, you're going to lose games like that.”
Toronto (21-34) survived a pre-break parting shot from Ginobili, who equaled a season high with 32 points. It was the third time in six games he'd cracked 30.
Parker added 22 for the Spurs, who lost in Canada for the first time since 2004. Duncan had 20 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists for his league-leading ninth 20-10-5 effort of the season.
The rest of the Spurs roster, however, combined to score just 15. Notably, Bonner — after putting up 45 points in his previous two games — went 0 for 4 and was scoreless.
In addition to Calderon, the Raptors were also without All-Star forward Chris Bosh, who missed his fourth straight game with a sprained knee. His absence opened up more touches for Jason Kapono (21 points) and Andrea Bargnani (23).
Ukic's game-changing 3-pointer was not in his scouting report. His 3-point percentage before Wednesday: a not-so-sizzling 18.9.
“He shoots like 20 percent,” Parker noted. “That's what we wanted.”
But the percentages weren't with the Spurs on Wednesday. They were due. And Ukic had his day.