duncan228
03-22-2009, 08:23 PM
Headline updated.
Rockets lead division as Spurs stumble
Spurs suffer late-game letdown (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_suffer_late-game_letdown.html)
Jeff McDonald
From Luis Scola’s perspective, there were two key turns of events in the waning moments Sunday afternoon. Only one surprised him.
“I saw the ball coming toward me,” he said, “and I saw that the basket was open.”
That the ball was headed to Scola with the game on the line wasn’t unexpected. On this day, he had been Houston’s leading scorer not named Ron Artest.
That the basket was so wide open? Against the Spurs? In crunch time of a need-to-win game in March?
Scola couldn’t have been more surprised had he woken up Sunday morning in a Spurs uniform.
Taking advantage of the Spurs’ late defensive lapse, Scola slipped in for a layup off a feed from Yao Ming with 11.2 seconds to go, providing the Rockets’ go-ahead points in an 87-85 victory at the AT&T Center.
“We had some defensive breakdowns at the end of the game,” guard Roger Mason Jr. said. “We know that’s where the game is won.”
Or, more often for the Spurs lately, where it is lost.
It was the Spurs’ third loss in four games to come down to a final possession, a stretch of crunch-time anti-heroics that has evicted them from first place in the Southwest Division for the first time since Jan. 6.
Houston (47-25) takes over pole position, moving a half-game ahead in both the divisional chase and the race for the Western Conference’s second seed.
The Spurs (45-24), who led 79-72 with 5:58 to play Sunday, had two chances to re-take a lead in the final seconds. With the Spurs behind 86-85, Tony Parker missed a running jumper. Scola rebounded and was purposefully fouled with 0.3 seconds left.
After making the first free throw, Scola tried to intentionally miss the second to allow time to run out.
Instead, Scola accidentally sunk the free throw, eliciting a groan from the Houston bench. Let the record show it was the second straight game at the AT&T Center in which a team bemoaned its fate at the foul line.
Scola finished with 19 points and 17 rebounds, trailing only Ron Artest (23 points) for the team lead.
Down to a last shot, the Spurs’ Matt Bonner got an unfettered look at a 3-pointer from the top of the arc. It hit the back of the rim.
“I thought it was in,” Bonner said. “Anyone who has ever shot a basketball knows that feeling. A shot leaves your hand and you think, ‘It’s in, it’s in.’ And then it doesn’t go in.”
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich couldn’t complain about his team’s final shot. Their best long-ball shooter trying a potential game-winning 3-pointer is as good as it gets.
Instead, Popovich could and did grumble about the end-game defensive hiccups that made a Hail Mary at the horn necessary.
“We made three defensive errors down the stretch that really cost us,” he said. “Just bad execution the last three possessions was the ball game.”
Popovich declined to name the party responsible for Scola’s go-ahead layup, but as the teams exited the floor, there was a clue. Popovich was last seen barking at Tim Duncan.
After the game, Duncan fessed up.
“It was my fault,” said Duncan, who did contribute 23 points for his first 20-point game since Feb. 17. “(Yao) popped to the top. I didn’t see anybody rotating to him, so I tried to kind of half-rotate to him. I thought he was shooting the ball, so I turned the block out.
“(The pass) went right by my head.”
Duncan had reason to be looking elsewhere. Asked after the game how many times Yao had hit Scola for such a layup, Houston coach Rick Adelman chuckled.
“Twice,” he said. “That’s about it.”
The other had come seconds earlier, when Yao first found Scola to give the Rockets a short-lived 84-83 lead.
The Spurs got a second surprise a few moments later, after Parker answered with a go-ahead layup of his own.
Then, Yao and Scola hooked up for an encore. This one would give way to permanent shock, and ultimate defeat.
“It’s a huge loss, especially with the race as close as it is,” Duncan said. “We came in here knowing the importance of this game. Just wish it could have bounced the other way.”
Rockets lead division as Spurs stumble
Spurs suffer late-game letdown (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_suffer_late-game_letdown.html)
Jeff McDonald
From Luis Scola’s perspective, there were two key turns of events in the waning moments Sunday afternoon. Only one surprised him.
“I saw the ball coming toward me,” he said, “and I saw that the basket was open.”
That the ball was headed to Scola with the game on the line wasn’t unexpected. On this day, he had been Houston’s leading scorer not named Ron Artest.
That the basket was so wide open? Against the Spurs? In crunch time of a need-to-win game in March?
Scola couldn’t have been more surprised had he woken up Sunday morning in a Spurs uniform.
Taking advantage of the Spurs’ late defensive lapse, Scola slipped in for a layup off a feed from Yao Ming with 11.2 seconds to go, providing the Rockets’ go-ahead points in an 87-85 victory at the AT&T Center.
“We had some defensive breakdowns at the end of the game,” guard Roger Mason Jr. said. “We know that’s where the game is won.”
Or, more often for the Spurs lately, where it is lost.
It was the Spurs’ third loss in four games to come down to a final possession, a stretch of crunch-time anti-heroics that has evicted them from first place in the Southwest Division for the first time since Jan. 6.
Houston (47-25) takes over pole position, moving a half-game ahead in both the divisional chase and the race for the Western Conference’s second seed.
The Spurs (45-24), who led 79-72 with 5:58 to play Sunday, had two chances to re-take a lead in the final seconds. With the Spurs behind 86-85, Tony Parker missed a running jumper. Scola rebounded and was purposefully fouled with 0.3 seconds left.
After making the first free throw, Scola tried to intentionally miss the second to allow time to run out.
Instead, Scola accidentally sunk the free throw, eliciting a groan from the Houston bench. Let the record show it was the second straight game at the AT&T Center in which a team bemoaned its fate at the foul line.
Scola finished with 19 points and 17 rebounds, trailing only Ron Artest (23 points) for the team lead.
Down to a last shot, the Spurs’ Matt Bonner got an unfettered look at a 3-pointer from the top of the arc. It hit the back of the rim.
“I thought it was in,” Bonner said. “Anyone who has ever shot a basketball knows that feeling. A shot leaves your hand and you think, ‘It’s in, it’s in.’ And then it doesn’t go in.”
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich couldn’t complain about his team’s final shot. Their best long-ball shooter trying a potential game-winning 3-pointer is as good as it gets.
Instead, Popovich could and did grumble about the end-game defensive hiccups that made a Hail Mary at the horn necessary.
“We made three defensive errors down the stretch that really cost us,” he said. “Just bad execution the last three possessions was the ball game.”
Popovich declined to name the party responsible for Scola’s go-ahead layup, but as the teams exited the floor, there was a clue. Popovich was last seen barking at Tim Duncan.
After the game, Duncan fessed up.
“It was my fault,” said Duncan, who did contribute 23 points for his first 20-point game since Feb. 17. “(Yao) popped to the top. I didn’t see anybody rotating to him, so I tried to kind of half-rotate to him. I thought he was shooting the ball, so I turned the block out.
“(The pass) went right by my head.”
Duncan had reason to be looking elsewhere. Asked after the game how many times Yao had hit Scola for such a layup, Houston coach Rick Adelman chuckled.
“Twice,” he said. “That’s about it.”
The other had come seconds earlier, when Yao first found Scola to give the Rockets a short-lived 84-83 lead.
The Spurs got a second surprise a few moments later, after Parker answered with a go-ahead layup of his own.
Then, Yao and Scola hooked up for an encore. This one would give way to permanent shock, and ultimate defeat.
“It’s a huge loss, especially with the race as close as it is,” Duncan said. “We came in here knowing the importance of this game. Just wish it could have bounced the other way.”