duncan228
11-24-2009, 12:58 AM
Spurs able to buck trend against Milwaukee (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/spurs/Spurs_able_to_buck_trend_against_Milwaukee.html)
Jeff McDonald
With 2:42 left in the third quarter Monday, Tim Duncan followed up his own miss with a tip-in, pushing him to 20 points and, for the superstitious sort, ending all hope of a Spurs victory.
The Spurs, inexplicably, were 0-4 this season when Duncan hit the 20-point plateau.
Before the night was over, and the Spurs had pocketed a 112-98 victory over surprising Milwaukee, they discovered the antidote to the Duncan-scores-20 curse. His name is Matt Bonner.
Bonner's 23 points off the bench, including a 6-for-8 clinic from beyond the 3-point arc, were enough to lift the Duncan hex and boost the Spurs to their second-straight blowout victory at the AT&T Center.
“Matt wasEl Fuego tonight,” Roger Mason Jr. said. “It looked like every shot was going in.”
Bonner's night, with which he set a season-high and came within two points of his career best, was part of a Spurs bench that proved a potent complement to Duncan's 24-point, 12-rebound finish.
The Spurs' reserves totaled 59 points — George Hill added 14 and Mason had 11 — to outscore both the Bucks' bench and the Spurs' starters. With the victory, which came two nights after a 22-point shellacking of Washington, the Spurs (6-6) moved back to the .500 mark.
“It's hard to guard a team where everybody's contributing and everybody's scoring and everybody's dangerous,” Bonner said.
Bonner's sharpshooting opened up the floor for Duncan, and vice versa. Milwaukee started with a plan to front Duncan and discourage an entry pass.
“The problem was when they brought Bonner in,” Bucks coach Scott Skiles said. “We went to playing behind Tim at that point, because we were trying to stay with Bonner on the perimeter.
“We ended up not doing a very good job on either one.”
The Spurs outrebounded the league's best rebounding team 46-29, although the Bucks did play without injured 7-footer Andrew Bogut. They made life difficult on prolific Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings, limited to 12 points on 6-of-21 shooting by Hill and Tony Parker.
The Spurs' second unit was on the floor for much of a 28-13 run that gave them a 15-point lead with 8:53 left in the first half. The first unit re-entered the game and promptly gave it away.
The Spurs went the final 4:50 of the second quarter without a field goal. They went the final 3:40 without a point. Dan Gadzuric's tip with 20.6 seconds left gave the Bucks a 50-49 edge heading into intermission.
“We didn't finish the half well at all,” Mason said. “Our intensity wasn't there. Coming out the second half, we wanted to be the aggressor.”
What the Spurs did was aggressively give the ball to Duncan. He scored six points in the first two minutes of the second half, part of a 15-point third quarter, after which the Spurs had returned their lead to 86-74.
By that point, nobody but Skiles felt like asking Duncan to stop at 19.
Monday marked the first time the Spurs won a game when Duncan surpassed 20 points since last season's finale against New Orleans. He also topped 20 in three of the Spurs' four playoff losses to Dallas last April.
“I'll tell you what,” Mason said, “we'll win a lot more games when he scores 20.”
The same, of course, could be said for Bonner. The Spurs are 1-0 this season when he goes for at least 20.
After the game, Bonner reaped an unforeseen reward for his marksmanship. Duncan declined to conduct his postgame interview in his customary spot, just outside the hallway leading directly to Bonner's locker.
Instead, Duncan fielded questions from his own stall.
“He did something out there, so I'll keep my rear end out of his face,” Duncan said.
Bonner could get used to that.
“That's all it takes?” Bonner retorted. “I guess I'll have to try and score 20 more often.”
*********************
Slideshow.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/slideshows/Spurs_122_Bucks_98.html
Jeff McDonald
With 2:42 left in the third quarter Monday, Tim Duncan followed up his own miss with a tip-in, pushing him to 20 points and, for the superstitious sort, ending all hope of a Spurs victory.
The Spurs, inexplicably, were 0-4 this season when Duncan hit the 20-point plateau.
Before the night was over, and the Spurs had pocketed a 112-98 victory over surprising Milwaukee, they discovered the antidote to the Duncan-scores-20 curse. His name is Matt Bonner.
Bonner's 23 points off the bench, including a 6-for-8 clinic from beyond the 3-point arc, were enough to lift the Duncan hex and boost the Spurs to their second-straight blowout victory at the AT&T Center.
“Matt wasEl Fuego tonight,” Roger Mason Jr. said. “It looked like every shot was going in.”
Bonner's night, with which he set a season-high and came within two points of his career best, was part of a Spurs bench that proved a potent complement to Duncan's 24-point, 12-rebound finish.
The Spurs' reserves totaled 59 points — George Hill added 14 and Mason had 11 — to outscore both the Bucks' bench and the Spurs' starters. With the victory, which came two nights after a 22-point shellacking of Washington, the Spurs (6-6) moved back to the .500 mark.
“It's hard to guard a team where everybody's contributing and everybody's scoring and everybody's dangerous,” Bonner said.
Bonner's sharpshooting opened up the floor for Duncan, and vice versa. Milwaukee started with a plan to front Duncan and discourage an entry pass.
“The problem was when they brought Bonner in,” Bucks coach Scott Skiles said. “We went to playing behind Tim at that point, because we were trying to stay with Bonner on the perimeter.
“We ended up not doing a very good job on either one.”
The Spurs outrebounded the league's best rebounding team 46-29, although the Bucks did play without injured 7-footer Andrew Bogut. They made life difficult on prolific Bucks rookie Brandon Jennings, limited to 12 points on 6-of-21 shooting by Hill and Tony Parker.
The Spurs' second unit was on the floor for much of a 28-13 run that gave them a 15-point lead with 8:53 left in the first half. The first unit re-entered the game and promptly gave it away.
The Spurs went the final 4:50 of the second quarter without a field goal. They went the final 3:40 without a point. Dan Gadzuric's tip with 20.6 seconds left gave the Bucks a 50-49 edge heading into intermission.
“We didn't finish the half well at all,” Mason said. “Our intensity wasn't there. Coming out the second half, we wanted to be the aggressor.”
What the Spurs did was aggressively give the ball to Duncan. He scored six points in the first two minutes of the second half, part of a 15-point third quarter, after which the Spurs had returned their lead to 86-74.
By that point, nobody but Skiles felt like asking Duncan to stop at 19.
Monday marked the first time the Spurs won a game when Duncan surpassed 20 points since last season's finale against New Orleans. He also topped 20 in three of the Spurs' four playoff losses to Dallas last April.
“I'll tell you what,” Mason said, “we'll win a lot more games when he scores 20.”
The same, of course, could be said for Bonner. The Spurs are 1-0 this season when he goes for at least 20.
After the game, Bonner reaped an unforeseen reward for his marksmanship. Duncan declined to conduct his postgame interview in his customary spot, just outside the hallway leading directly to Bonner's locker.
Instead, Duncan fielded questions from his own stall.
“He did something out there, so I'll keep my rear end out of his face,” Duncan said.
Bonner could get used to that.
“That's all it takes?” Bonner retorted. “I guess I'll have to try and score 20 more often.”
*********************
Slideshow.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/slideshows/Spurs_122_Bucks_98.html