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Yeah, little contributions like this tend to get overlooked but Bonner's stock just went up a notch or two.
Bonner's clutch pass seals win for Spurs
Mike Monroe
Spurs center Matt Bonner prepared for his Wednesday night starting assignment against the Lakers by watching lots of game film of the Spurs' playoff series against the Lakers last spring.
He did not see himself on the court in the film, and the thought he would play a key role Wednesday night made him nervous, in a good way.
“I got a few butterflies,” he said.
Bonner could not have predicted he would wind up in the most nerve-jangling situation in the game — trigger man on the in-bounds play Spurs coach Gregg Popovich drew up with his team trailing 111-109 with 12 seconds remaining.
Bonner's hard pass to Roger Mason Jr. in the left corner set up Mason's winning shot, and it came but an instant before the five seconds he was allotted expired.
Bonner had to improvise when the Lakers disrupted the play Popovich had drawn up.
“The play was to get Manu the ball at the top,” Bonner said, “and he never got to the top.”
Ginobili said he ran into Mason as he tried to get open, and then discovered no good route to get to the spot where he was supposed to catch Bonner's pass.
“Kobe (Bryant) was with me,” Ginobili said of his attempt to get free. “I think I ran into Roger at the beginning. Then, I saw Kobe going over the top, so I tried to flare, but it was a bad decision, because Matty was guarded, and was not going to risk a full-court pass.”
Bonner said Mason did a good job of finding an open spot in the left corner.
“There wasn't a Plan B,” he said. “Roger made a great catch on a pass I just had to whip it in there as hard as I could.
“I think it caught Derek Fisher a little off-guard too. Roger got in front of him and got the ‘and one.' It was an amazing play.”
In the house: Former Spurs and Lakers star Robert Horry had a seat for Wednesday's game in Spurs general manager R.C. Buford's box in the stands behind the Spurs' bench. “Big Shot Rob” paid a visit to his former teammates in their locker room after the game.
Worth noting: After the Orlando Magic hit an NBA-record 23 3-pointers against the Kings on Tuesday night, Popovich decided his club hadn't done as badly as he thought in its Sunday night loss to the Magic. The Spurs gave up only 14 triples to the Magic.
“All kinds of stuff happens in 82 games,” Popovich said of Orlando's 3-pointer barrage in its victory in Sacramento.
Odom returns: Lakers forward Lamar Odom, who had experienced soreness in his right knee because of a bone bruise, played for the first time in a week in the Lakers' 105-100 victory over the Rockets on Tuesday night. He reported no problems after logging 12:39 on Tuesday.
“It didn't fall off,” he said of his sore knee, “and if it had, I just would have put it back on and played. I'm just like Humpty Dumpty.”
Yeah, little contributions like this tend to get overlooked but Bonner's stock just went up a notch or two.
“The play was to get Manu the ball at the top,” Bonner said, “and he never got to the top.”
So that answers some questions we had about who would get the ball in clutch situations.
Looks like Pop was gonna go back to old reliable.
Nice job by Bonner though to not panic
Interesting le. Somewhat tongue in cheek, albeit half true. More like Bonner's Clutch Pass Helps Tie the Game For Spurs. Game winner was the FT.
When I replayed it using my watch, that ball was inbounded just as the second hand was hitting 5 seconds.
I don't know; there were two different in-bounds by Bonner that came reeeaallly close to 5 seconds. I don't think he actually hit 5 seconds, but he was close. Twice.
I'm glad his passes worked but during the moment I was cursing Pop for letting him handle the clutch moments - the Red Rocket's body language looked like the plays were really difficult for him. Of course thats understandable but being accustomed to stone-cold TD I was screaming at the top of my lungs!
Bonner was just fine.
His defense also, which no one has said, was fantastic on Trevor Ariza to end the game. Moved his feet perfectly and almost created the turnover.
Props to him on that
shame on you people who said last yr Bonner has low basketball IQBonner's hard pass to Roger Mason Jr. in the left corner set up Mason's winning shot, and it came but an instant before the five seconds he was allotted expired.
Bonner had to improvise when the Lakers disrupted the play Popovich had drawn up.
is it always like that? no plan B ?
Nice to know Horry was @ game. I wonder what Horry thought of that Mason clutch shot.
Well, if the Spurs do need a fifth big by the end of the season, Horry on the inactive list as insurance isn't a horrible idea . . .In the house: Former Spurs and Lakers star Robert Horry had a seat for Wednesday's game in Spurs general manager R.C. Buford's box in the stands behind the Spurs' bench. “Big Shot Rob” paid a visit to his former teammates in their locker room after the game.
He did give a little fist pump when Mason made that shot
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