duncan228
04-03-2009, 11:50 PM
Spurs close door on Pacers, eventually (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_close_door_on_Pacers_eventually.html)
Jeff McDonald
INDIANAPOLIS — Their big lead had vanished. The home crowd was howling. The Pacers, left for dead just moments earlier, were rolling.
The Spurs had seen this all before.
Change the “Indiana” on the front of their opponents' jerseys, and the Spurs could have been playing Oklahoma City, or New Orleans, or Boston, or Houston.
All those teams had overcome deficits to slip past the Spurs in the past few weeks. The Pacers positioned themselves to join the club late in what seemed like a must-win game for the Spurs Friday night at Conseco Fieldhouse.
“It really didn't look good,” Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said. “Then, we showed some character.”
Tony Parker's corner 3-pointer with 1:42 left put the Spurs on top by one, and they held on for 126-121 victory and one huge sigh of relief.
The Spurs had arrived in Indiana following a maddening March in which they lost five of their final nine games, none by more than four points.
Given that recent history, and the tightness of the Western Conference playoff race, the Spurs (49-26) weren't about to quibble with victory — even if they did blow a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter and give up their most points to Indiana since 1991.
“They way we've been playing, the losses we've been taking, every win is a good win,” Tim Duncan said. “We've got to get in a rhythm; we've got to get some momentum going. So every win is a good win.”
Parker, the team's bellcow for much of the season, had 31 points and 10 assists and hit the game's two biggest shots. He followed his go-ahead 3-pointer with a pull-up 20-footer that pushed the Spurs' cushion to three.
Duncan ended with 22 points and 11 rebounds. He added numbers to both columns on another key possession, tapping in a Ginobili miss to give the Spurs a 122-117 edge with 31.4 seconds left.
“Tony was great, and Tim was great,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “That was the difference.”
Those late-game plays, the likes of which the Spurs had not been making lately, allowed them to salvage a night that, for a moment, appeared to be teetering toward familiar disaster.
The Spurs led 102-88 with 9:24 left, after Ginobili canned a step-back 3-pointer. Over the next 3:45, the Spurs saw all of that lead disappear and then some.
The Pacers (32-44) went small and shot the lights out of the building. An 18-3 run, sparked by 3-pointers from Jarrett Jack, Danny Granger and two by acting center Troy Murphy, had Indiana ahead 106-105 with 5:29 remaining in the game.
Granger finished with 35 points, matching the most tallied by a Spurs' opponent this season, and Jack had 13 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter.
“They were just shooting the ball really well,” Duncan said. “I hate to keep saying that every frickin' game. We did make some defensive mistakes. But all the other shots, they were contested.”
Only moments before the Pacers' big run, the only drama left seemed to be whether Spurs rookie George Hill, an Indianapolis native, would see the floor in his homecoming game (he did). All of a sudden, the Spurs were toying with their first three-game losing streak since opening the season 0-3.
Then, Parker found his range. Duncan found a tip-in. The Spurs came up with enough defensive stops to come back and hold on.
These are the types of flawed victories the Spurs would usually nitpick. Not tonight.
“It was a sweet win,” Ginobili said.
Jeff McDonald
INDIANAPOLIS — Their big lead had vanished. The home crowd was howling. The Pacers, left for dead just moments earlier, were rolling.
The Spurs had seen this all before.
Change the “Indiana” on the front of their opponents' jerseys, and the Spurs could have been playing Oklahoma City, or New Orleans, or Boston, or Houston.
All those teams had overcome deficits to slip past the Spurs in the past few weeks. The Pacers positioned themselves to join the club late in what seemed like a must-win game for the Spurs Friday night at Conseco Fieldhouse.
“It really didn't look good,” Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said. “Then, we showed some character.”
Tony Parker's corner 3-pointer with 1:42 left put the Spurs on top by one, and they held on for 126-121 victory and one huge sigh of relief.
The Spurs had arrived in Indiana following a maddening March in which they lost five of their final nine games, none by more than four points.
Given that recent history, and the tightness of the Western Conference playoff race, the Spurs (49-26) weren't about to quibble with victory — even if they did blow a 14-point lead in the fourth quarter and give up their most points to Indiana since 1991.
“They way we've been playing, the losses we've been taking, every win is a good win,” Tim Duncan said. “We've got to get in a rhythm; we've got to get some momentum going. So every win is a good win.”
Parker, the team's bellcow for much of the season, had 31 points and 10 assists and hit the game's two biggest shots. He followed his go-ahead 3-pointer with a pull-up 20-footer that pushed the Spurs' cushion to three.
Duncan ended with 22 points and 11 rebounds. He added numbers to both columns on another key possession, tapping in a Ginobili miss to give the Spurs a 122-117 edge with 31.4 seconds left.
“Tony was great, and Tim was great,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “That was the difference.”
Those late-game plays, the likes of which the Spurs had not been making lately, allowed them to salvage a night that, for a moment, appeared to be teetering toward familiar disaster.
The Spurs led 102-88 with 9:24 left, after Ginobili canned a step-back 3-pointer. Over the next 3:45, the Spurs saw all of that lead disappear and then some.
The Pacers (32-44) went small and shot the lights out of the building. An 18-3 run, sparked by 3-pointers from Jarrett Jack, Danny Granger and two by acting center Troy Murphy, had Indiana ahead 106-105 with 5:29 remaining in the game.
Granger finished with 35 points, matching the most tallied by a Spurs' opponent this season, and Jack had 13 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter.
“They were just shooting the ball really well,” Duncan said. “I hate to keep saying that every frickin' game. We did make some defensive mistakes. But all the other shots, they were contested.”
Only moments before the Pacers' big run, the only drama left seemed to be whether Spurs rookie George Hill, an Indianapolis native, would see the floor in his homecoming game (he did). All of a sudden, the Spurs were toying with their first three-game losing streak since opening the season 0-3.
Then, Parker found his range. Duncan found a tip-in. The Spurs came up with enough defensive stops to come back and hold on.
These are the types of flawed victories the Spurs would usually nitpick. Not tonight.
“It was a sweet win,” Ginobili said.