duncan228
05-12-2008, 01:14 AM
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA051208.01C.BKNspurs.hornets.gamer4.f03f9c11.ht ml
Healthy Duncan helps get Spurs out of hole as series returns to New Orleans
By Jeff McDonald
Robert Horry did not need a medical degree to tell him Tim Duncan was feeling good Sunday night. He did not need an army of specialists to run a battery of tests to tell him what his eyes already saw.
The only thermometer Horry needed to gauge the health and vigor of his All-Star teammate, in what became a resounding 100-80 Spurs victory in a pivotal Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals, was this:
Late in the first half, Duncan spun, cat-like, on Tyson Chandler, twisting so quickly the New Orleans center didn’t seem to know which way to turn.
“When Tim was still sick,” Horry said, “he probably would have fallen to the ground.”
Let the record show Duncan actually did fall on the play, but it was a good fall. He made the layup and drew a foul.
Still fighting the Hornets’ double-teams, but not the flu-like symptoms that plagued him earlier in these semifinals, Duncan had his best game of the series, totaling 22 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks to help the Spurs draw even at two games apiece.
The festivities shift to New Orleans on Tuesday for Game 5, with the Spurs having emerged from a 2-0 deficit with back-to-back booming victories.
Unlike earlier in this series, Duncan did not look like a guy about to lose his breakfast Sunday. That was a good start.
“I’m just trying to do my part,” said Duncan, who was averaging 13 points in the series before Game 4. “Guys have to step it up come playoff time.”
And as is often the case in such routs, Duncan had help.
Tony Parker threw in 21 points and eight assists. Manu Ginobili added 15 points and another eight assists for the Spurs, who assisted on all but 12 of their 39 field goals. Michael Finley had 12 points off the bench, while Ime Udoka scored 15, a career playoff high.
Most importantly, the Spurs welcomed back an old playoff friend — their defense.
“Defensively, I thought we were better than we have been this entire series,” Duncan said.
Chris Paul scored 23 points to lead the Hornets, but unable to find anyone else to make shots, had just six assists.
Jannero Pargo, a reserve guard, was New Orleans’ second-leading scorer with 11 points — a bad sign for the Hornets. Another bad sign: It took Pargo 14 shots.
“That’s the best way for us to play,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Playing good defense fuels everything we do.”
Midway through the third quarter, the Spurs stretched a 14-point halftime lead to 24.
By the start of the fourth, New Orleans coach Byron Scott had benched his starters. This mimicked what Popovich did in late in Game 2, a similarly lopsided Spurs loss.
It served as proof that the series has shifted, and Scott has one explanation for it.
“They are kicking our butts right now,” he said.
There is another explanation, and it’s Duncan.
The Duncan who showed up Sunday, to spin on Chandler, knock down bank shots and nearly outrebound New Orleans’ starting five by himself, was not the Duncan who managed just five points in Game 1.
That was only the third single-digit scoring effort of Duncan’s postseason career. Later, it was reported that he had played that game with a 103-degree fever, making him the second hottest thing in the building that night after Super Hugo’s ill-fated ring of fire.
Duncan didn’t address his infirmity then, and he isn’t now. But his teammates could tell he wasn’t right.
“I think Tim was in a little bit of a fog over there,” Horry said.
The fog, which lingered into Game 2, began to lift when the team returned home. By the start of Game 4, the old Duncan, fever broken, was back.
It didn’t start pretty. Duncan missed an easy layup on the Spurs’ first possession of the game. After that, he made nine of his next 11 shots.
Now the Spurs, once left for sick themselves, are headed back to New Orleans, with a chance to assume control of a series that only days earlier seemed close to slipping away.
“We feel good going back to New Orleans,” Duncan said.
As one quick spin move will attest, none moreso than Duncan.
Healthy Duncan helps get Spurs out of hole as series returns to New Orleans
By Jeff McDonald
Robert Horry did not need a medical degree to tell him Tim Duncan was feeling good Sunday night. He did not need an army of specialists to run a battery of tests to tell him what his eyes already saw.
The only thermometer Horry needed to gauge the health and vigor of his All-Star teammate, in what became a resounding 100-80 Spurs victory in a pivotal Game 4 of the Western Conference semifinals, was this:
Late in the first half, Duncan spun, cat-like, on Tyson Chandler, twisting so quickly the New Orleans center didn’t seem to know which way to turn.
“When Tim was still sick,” Horry said, “he probably would have fallen to the ground.”
Let the record show Duncan actually did fall on the play, but it was a good fall. He made the layup and drew a foul.
Still fighting the Hornets’ double-teams, but not the flu-like symptoms that plagued him earlier in these semifinals, Duncan had his best game of the series, totaling 22 points, 15 rebounds and four blocks to help the Spurs draw even at two games apiece.
The festivities shift to New Orleans on Tuesday for Game 5, with the Spurs having emerged from a 2-0 deficit with back-to-back booming victories.
Unlike earlier in this series, Duncan did not look like a guy about to lose his breakfast Sunday. That was a good start.
“I’m just trying to do my part,” said Duncan, who was averaging 13 points in the series before Game 4. “Guys have to step it up come playoff time.”
And as is often the case in such routs, Duncan had help.
Tony Parker threw in 21 points and eight assists. Manu Ginobili added 15 points and another eight assists for the Spurs, who assisted on all but 12 of their 39 field goals. Michael Finley had 12 points off the bench, while Ime Udoka scored 15, a career playoff high.
Most importantly, the Spurs welcomed back an old playoff friend — their defense.
“Defensively, I thought we were better than we have been this entire series,” Duncan said.
Chris Paul scored 23 points to lead the Hornets, but unable to find anyone else to make shots, had just six assists.
Jannero Pargo, a reserve guard, was New Orleans’ second-leading scorer with 11 points — a bad sign for the Hornets. Another bad sign: It took Pargo 14 shots.
“That’s the best way for us to play,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Playing good defense fuels everything we do.”
Midway through the third quarter, the Spurs stretched a 14-point halftime lead to 24.
By the start of the fourth, New Orleans coach Byron Scott had benched his starters. This mimicked what Popovich did in late in Game 2, a similarly lopsided Spurs loss.
It served as proof that the series has shifted, and Scott has one explanation for it.
“They are kicking our butts right now,” he said.
There is another explanation, and it’s Duncan.
The Duncan who showed up Sunday, to spin on Chandler, knock down bank shots and nearly outrebound New Orleans’ starting five by himself, was not the Duncan who managed just five points in Game 1.
That was only the third single-digit scoring effort of Duncan’s postseason career. Later, it was reported that he had played that game with a 103-degree fever, making him the second hottest thing in the building that night after Super Hugo’s ill-fated ring of fire.
Duncan didn’t address his infirmity then, and he isn’t now. But his teammates could tell he wasn’t right.
“I think Tim was in a little bit of a fog over there,” Horry said.
The fog, which lingered into Game 2, began to lift when the team returned home. By the start of Game 4, the old Duncan, fever broken, was back.
It didn’t start pretty. Duncan missed an easy layup on the Spurs’ first possession of the game. After that, he made nine of his next 11 shots.
Now the Spurs, once left for sick themselves, are headed back to New Orleans, with a chance to assume control of a series that only days earlier seemed close to slipping away.
“We feel good going back to New Orleans,” Duncan said.
As one quick spin move will attest, none moreso than Duncan.