duncan228
03-15-2009, 12:02 AM
Spurs finish strong to beat Rockets (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_finish_strong_to_beat_Rockets.html)
Jeff McDonald
HOUSTON — The shots weren't falling again for Tim Duncan, giving the first half of Saturday's game against the Rockets the feel of Groundhog Day in March.
Jumpers clanged off the rim. Layups dribbled out. His bank shot wouldn't follow orders.
Watching it all, Tony Parker approached his fellow Spurs All-Star with some advice: Keep shooting.
“I told him, ‘Take 15, 20 shots if you want to,'” Parker said. “He's the franchise. Nobody's going to say nothing.”
Duncan heeded that advice, and the Spurs followed him to a hard-earned 88-85 victory at the Toyota Center.
Duncan's final line — 15 points, 12 rebounds, 7-of-18 shooting — looked rather pedestrian. In that, it would fit in with most of his month so far.
Yet when the Spurs needed him most in the fourth quarter, with the Rockets threatening to climb within a half game in the Southwest Division, Duncan delivered.
In the span of three minutes, Duncan drove for baskets on Luis Scola and Yao Ming. He buried a 15-footer. He passed to Parker on consecutive back-door layups. By the time he looked up, the Spurs had turned a two-point deficit into a seven-point lead with 2:45 left.
“It was good to see some shots go in tonight,” said Duncan, who had started March 40 of 92 and was 4 of 11 entering the fourth quarter Saturday.
Despite Duncan's fourth-quarter awakening, the Spurs (44-21) were forced to hold on for dear life down the stretch.
Down 86-85, Houston had a chance to take a lead, but Duncan forced Aaron Brooks into a miss on a wild layup with 17.8 seconds to go. After a pair of Parker foul shots pushed the Spurs' lead to three points, they survived a wide-open 3-pointer from Ron Artest and a contested 3-point try by Brooks as time expired.
The win was the Spurs' first at the Toyota Center in more than two years, breaking a three-game skid here dating to March 2007.
After losing for just the fourth time in 16 games, the Rockets (43-25) dropped 21/2 games behind the Spurs for first place in the division and second in the Western Conference.
“It was not unlike most of the games that Houston and San Antonio play,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “It comes down to the end, and somebody makes a shot and somebody doesn't.”
In what is rapidly becoming an every-night occurrence, Parker led the Spurs with 28 points, including a key 19-footer to put the Spurs up 85-81 with 1:30 left.
Continuing a sizzling March of his own, Michael Finley added 17 points and, for the second game in a row, threw in five 3-pointers. In a testament to how hot Finley has been of late, one of them was a 45-foot bank shot to beat the third-quarter buzzer.
“I didn't call glass,” Finley deadpanned after the game.
Drew Gooden, in his first extended run in a Spurs jersey, added 13 points in little more than 15 minutes. It was Finley and Gooden, in fact, who kept the Spurs afloat until Duncan and Parker could take over late.
It started with Duncan, who has struggled since coming back from a three-game layoff to close February.
With the Spurs behind 73-71, Duncan took Scola hard to the basket for the tying score. Parker broke the tie with a pull-up 22-footer on the Spurs' next possession, which Duncan followed by driving on Yao for another hoop.
Scola and Yao had their revenge, scoring back-to-back baskets to tie the game again with 4:59 left. Duncan responded by knocking down a 15-footer, then threw consecutive backdoor passes to Parker for layups.
On the second one, Parker drew a foul on Scola at the rim, and completed a three-point play to make it 84-77.
“They were pressuring me, and I told TD to take a look at the back door,” Parker said. “We just talked about it real quick. We did it on the fly.”
It was the second piece of Parker's advice Duncan followed Saturday. He hopes his heeding of the first — keep shooting — will lead to better things to come.
“I actually got some shots to go tonight, started to feel a little better,” Duncan said. “Hopefully, I can start to put some better games together down the stretch.”
Jeff McDonald
HOUSTON — The shots weren't falling again for Tim Duncan, giving the first half of Saturday's game against the Rockets the feel of Groundhog Day in March.
Jumpers clanged off the rim. Layups dribbled out. His bank shot wouldn't follow orders.
Watching it all, Tony Parker approached his fellow Spurs All-Star with some advice: Keep shooting.
“I told him, ‘Take 15, 20 shots if you want to,'” Parker said. “He's the franchise. Nobody's going to say nothing.”
Duncan heeded that advice, and the Spurs followed him to a hard-earned 88-85 victory at the Toyota Center.
Duncan's final line — 15 points, 12 rebounds, 7-of-18 shooting — looked rather pedestrian. In that, it would fit in with most of his month so far.
Yet when the Spurs needed him most in the fourth quarter, with the Rockets threatening to climb within a half game in the Southwest Division, Duncan delivered.
In the span of three minutes, Duncan drove for baskets on Luis Scola and Yao Ming. He buried a 15-footer. He passed to Parker on consecutive back-door layups. By the time he looked up, the Spurs had turned a two-point deficit into a seven-point lead with 2:45 left.
“It was good to see some shots go in tonight,” said Duncan, who had started March 40 of 92 and was 4 of 11 entering the fourth quarter Saturday.
Despite Duncan's fourth-quarter awakening, the Spurs (44-21) were forced to hold on for dear life down the stretch.
Down 86-85, Houston had a chance to take a lead, but Duncan forced Aaron Brooks into a miss on a wild layup with 17.8 seconds to go. After a pair of Parker foul shots pushed the Spurs' lead to three points, they survived a wide-open 3-pointer from Ron Artest and a contested 3-point try by Brooks as time expired.
The win was the Spurs' first at the Toyota Center in more than two years, breaking a three-game skid here dating to March 2007.
After losing for just the fourth time in 16 games, the Rockets (43-25) dropped 21/2 games behind the Spurs for first place in the division and second in the Western Conference.
“It was not unlike most of the games that Houston and San Antonio play,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “It comes down to the end, and somebody makes a shot and somebody doesn't.”
In what is rapidly becoming an every-night occurrence, Parker led the Spurs with 28 points, including a key 19-footer to put the Spurs up 85-81 with 1:30 left.
Continuing a sizzling March of his own, Michael Finley added 17 points and, for the second game in a row, threw in five 3-pointers. In a testament to how hot Finley has been of late, one of them was a 45-foot bank shot to beat the third-quarter buzzer.
“I didn't call glass,” Finley deadpanned after the game.
Drew Gooden, in his first extended run in a Spurs jersey, added 13 points in little more than 15 minutes. It was Finley and Gooden, in fact, who kept the Spurs afloat until Duncan and Parker could take over late.
It started with Duncan, who has struggled since coming back from a three-game layoff to close February.
With the Spurs behind 73-71, Duncan took Scola hard to the basket for the tying score. Parker broke the tie with a pull-up 22-footer on the Spurs' next possession, which Duncan followed by driving on Yao for another hoop.
Scola and Yao had their revenge, scoring back-to-back baskets to tie the game again with 4:59 left. Duncan responded by knocking down a 15-footer, then threw consecutive backdoor passes to Parker for layups.
On the second one, Parker drew a foul on Scola at the rim, and completed a three-point play to make it 84-77.
“They were pressuring me, and I told TD to take a look at the back door,” Parker said. “We just talked about it real quick. We did it on the fly.”
It was the second piece of Parker's advice Duncan followed Saturday. He hopes his heeding of the first — keep shooting — will lead to better things to come.
“I actually got some shots to go tonight, started to feel a little better,” Duncan said. “Hopefully, I can start to put some better games together down the stretch.”