Ginobili irked about lack of fight
Mike Monroe
LOS ANGELES — It wasn't the Spurs' 99-85 loss to the Lakers that had ultra-compe ive Manu Ginobili seething as he headed out of the Staples Center on Sunday afternoon.
What burned Ginobili was his belief the Spurs stopped competing after the Lakers built a double-digit lead early in the third quarter.
“At halftime we were six down,” Ginobili said, “and then they had a great start of the third with two threes and went up 12, and then everything was uphill. That's when they made their break.”
The Spurs have come back from larger deficits this season, and Ginobili was not happy with his team's response.
“It's going to happen,” he said. “The thing is, we can't allow ourselves to think that just because they scored two threes, just get out of the game and call it a day.”
Ginobili was equally disturbed by what he believes is season-long uneven effort.
“I think what happened today is what has been happening,” he said. “We have two good games and one bad, three good games and one bad.
“That's how it's been all season, and today what happened was just a bad overall game, and not just defensively. We're just not smart enough. They got into the bonus too quick, and we sent them to the line too much.
“Transition defense in the first half hurt us a little bit; too many mistakes against a really good team.”