duncan228
12-20-2009, 12:56 AM
Pop's 700th no slam dunk (http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/Pops_700th_no_slam_dunk.html)
Jeff McDonald
Tim Duncan walked off the AT&T Center floor with 5:08 left in the third quarter, shaking his head in abject frustration.
The Spurs had already blown all of a 13-point lead to Indiana. He had just picked up his fourth foul, to go with a technical moments earlier, and would be watching the rest of his team's impending implosion from the bench.
Duncan's night, and the Spurs', would get worse before it got better. Eventually, however, it got good enough.
Duncan's putback dunk off his own miss with 4.6 seconds left gave the Spurs a 100-99 come-from-behind victory they made more stirring than it needed to be.
“That was a win you would categorize as ugly,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who became the 16th NBA coach to record 700 career victories the hard way. “But we don't give them back.”
The Spurs won despite being outscored 38-20 in the third quarter, despite a 26-point turnaround that left them down by 13 entering the fourth, despite missing 15 free throws.
They won despite giving Indiana's T.J. Ford, who had scored all of his 14 points in the second half, a relatively open look at a 16-footer as time expired.
It was not the kind of victory that results in the popping of champagne corks in the winning locker room. But for a Spurs team in the midst of an uphill battle in the Western Conference, it was good enough.
With it, the Spurs (14-10) moved four games over .500 for the first time this season.
“The end result is all that matters,” Duncan said. “We learned something tonight, and luckily we did it in a win.”
Duncan scored 19 points, matched a season high with 16 rebounds and recorded three blocks. He was one of six Spurs to score in double figures, but nobody else had more than Tony Parker's 15 — and Parker used a 4-of-17 shooting night to get there.
Richard Jefferson finished with 10 points, six of them during the Spurs' furious fourth-quarter rally. His final basket came on a reverse dunk that brought the Spurs within 89-93 with 7:24 to go.
“Sometimes, you look for anything to get the intensity up,” Spurs guard Roger Mason Jr. said. “That play got everybody riled up.”
Early on, it seemed no fourth-quarter comeback would be necessary. The Spurs took a 49-37 second-quarter lead with 3:59 remaining, then finished the half 0 for 7 from the field and 1 for 5 from the foul line.
By the end of another third-quarter Spurs meltdown, the Pacers (9-16) led 83-70.
A 16-6 Spurs run midway through the fourth, coinciding with Duncan's return from foul purgatory, turned the game again. His 15-footer off the glass with 3:10 to go put the Spurs up 96-95.
After giving up a 38-point third quarter, the Spurs held Indiana to less than half that — 16 — in the fourth.
Still, the game came down to a play even Duncan admitted involved more than a little luck.
Behind 99-98 with 10 seconds left, the Spurs ran a play for Duncan. Roy Hibbert, Indiana's 7-foot-2 center, denied Duncan's first attempt. Unfazed, Duncan relocated the ball for his eighth offensive rebound, then promptly threw down a dunk in Hibbert's general vicinity.
For the typically earth-bound Duncan, it was an atypical game-winner.
“At 46 years old, for him to go up and dunk the ball like he did,” Jefferson said, “that's pretty impressive.”
Afterward, Duncan said he could not recall the last time he'd won a game with a dunk.
“I think that would be '64, '65, something like that,” Duncan said wistfully. “It was a pretty good season for me.”
They were the kind of jokes that spring from a winning locker room. On this night, the line between dejection and elation was razor thin. With one rare moment, Duncan bridged the gap and salvaged the night.
*********************
Slideshow.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/Spurs_100_Pacers_99.html
Jeff McDonald
Tim Duncan walked off the AT&T Center floor with 5:08 left in the third quarter, shaking his head in abject frustration.
The Spurs had already blown all of a 13-point lead to Indiana. He had just picked up his fourth foul, to go with a technical moments earlier, and would be watching the rest of his team's impending implosion from the bench.
Duncan's night, and the Spurs', would get worse before it got better. Eventually, however, it got good enough.
Duncan's putback dunk off his own miss with 4.6 seconds left gave the Spurs a 100-99 come-from-behind victory they made more stirring than it needed to be.
“That was a win you would categorize as ugly,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, who became the 16th NBA coach to record 700 career victories the hard way. “But we don't give them back.”
The Spurs won despite being outscored 38-20 in the third quarter, despite a 26-point turnaround that left them down by 13 entering the fourth, despite missing 15 free throws.
They won despite giving Indiana's T.J. Ford, who had scored all of his 14 points in the second half, a relatively open look at a 16-footer as time expired.
It was not the kind of victory that results in the popping of champagne corks in the winning locker room. But for a Spurs team in the midst of an uphill battle in the Western Conference, it was good enough.
With it, the Spurs (14-10) moved four games over .500 for the first time this season.
“The end result is all that matters,” Duncan said. “We learned something tonight, and luckily we did it in a win.”
Duncan scored 19 points, matched a season high with 16 rebounds and recorded three blocks. He was one of six Spurs to score in double figures, but nobody else had more than Tony Parker's 15 — and Parker used a 4-of-17 shooting night to get there.
Richard Jefferson finished with 10 points, six of them during the Spurs' furious fourth-quarter rally. His final basket came on a reverse dunk that brought the Spurs within 89-93 with 7:24 to go.
“Sometimes, you look for anything to get the intensity up,” Spurs guard Roger Mason Jr. said. “That play got everybody riled up.”
Early on, it seemed no fourth-quarter comeback would be necessary. The Spurs took a 49-37 second-quarter lead with 3:59 remaining, then finished the half 0 for 7 from the field and 1 for 5 from the foul line.
By the end of another third-quarter Spurs meltdown, the Pacers (9-16) led 83-70.
A 16-6 Spurs run midway through the fourth, coinciding with Duncan's return from foul purgatory, turned the game again. His 15-footer off the glass with 3:10 to go put the Spurs up 96-95.
After giving up a 38-point third quarter, the Spurs held Indiana to less than half that — 16 — in the fourth.
Still, the game came down to a play even Duncan admitted involved more than a little luck.
Behind 99-98 with 10 seconds left, the Spurs ran a play for Duncan. Roy Hibbert, Indiana's 7-foot-2 center, denied Duncan's first attempt. Unfazed, Duncan relocated the ball for his eighth offensive rebound, then promptly threw down a dunk in Hibbert's general vicinity.
For the typically earth-bound Duncan, it was an atypical game-winner.
“At 46 years old, for him to go up and dunk the ball like he did,” Jefferson said, “that's pretty impressive.”
Afterward, Duncan said he could not recall the last time he'd won a game with a dunk.
“I think that would be '64, '65, something like that,” Duncan said wistfully. “It was a pretty good season for me.”
They were the kind of jokes that spring from a winning locker room. On this night, the line between dejection and elation was razor thin. With one rare moment, Duncan bridged the gap and salvaged the night.
*********************
Slideshow.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/Spurs_100_Pacers_99.html