McDonald: Victory Escapes Spurs

[duncan228]

Victory escapes Spurs
Jeff McDonald

TORONTO — Maybe the Spurs were due.

Maybe it wasn't fair to expect them to win every close game. Maybe Roger Mason Jr. can't be called upon to fly out of his phone booth at the end of every fourth quarter.

Maybe Matt Bonner isn't the second coming of Larry Bird. And maybe sometimes even Roko Ukic has his day.

The factors were many, yet the result was singular. With two starters on the bench with injuries Wednesday night, the short-handed Toronto Raptors sent the Spurs into the All-Star break on the wrong end of a 91-89 thriller at Air Canada Centre.

“That's why it's a game. That's why you play them,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Things don't always go the way the percentages say.”

Indeed, there were no Vegas odds on this.

Ukic, a 24-year-old rookie earning playing time only by virtue of Jose Calderon's recalcitrant hamstring, made the second-biggest shot of the game, burying a 3-pointer with 49.9 seconds left to transform a four-point Toronto deficit into one.

Twenty seconds later, he made the biggest shot of the game, floating a 7-footer over Tony Parker and past Tim Duncan to give the Raptors their final lead.

Ukic finished with 22 points, easily his season high. Before Wednesday, he had scored 15, total, in all of February.

Unlike many in the building Wednesday, Spurs guard Manu Ginobili was not caught off-guard by Ukic's outburst.

“A lot of NBA players and media tend to underestimate players from overseas,” Ginobili said. “We know each other. I saw him in the Olympics (with Croatia). So it's not a surprise.”

The Spurs (35-16) had two chances to either go ahead or tie after Ukic's final basket.

First, a hard-charging Ginobili missed a drive over a hard-charging Jermaine O'Neal.

After O'Neal made just one of two free throws to nudge Toronto's lead to two points with 7.2 seconds left, Popovich called a timeout and drew up a play.

Almost immediately, things went haywire. Michael Finley bobbled a pass and had to pass up an open 3-pointer. He shuffled the ball to Parker, who had to force a going-nowhere jumper over O'Neal as time expired.

With that, the Spurs had lost just their second game by three points or less since October.

“It happens,” Parker said. “We won a lot of games close this year. Sometimes, you're going to lose games like that.”

Toronto (21-34) survived a pre-break parting shot from Ginobili, who equaled a season high with 32 points. It was the third time in six games he'd cracked 30.

Parker added 22 for the Spurs, who lost in Canada for the first time since 2004. Duncan had 20 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists for his league-leading ninth 20-10-5 effort of the season.

The rest of the Spurs roster, however, combined to score just 15. Notably, Bonner — after putting up 45 points in his previous two games — went 0 for 4 and was scoreless.

In addition to Calderon, the Raptors were also without All-Star forward Chris Bosh, who missed his fourth straight game with a sprained knee. His absence opened up more touches for Jason Kapono (21 points) and Andrea Bargnani (23).

Ukic's game-changing 3-pointer was not in his scouting report. His 3-point percentage before Wednesday: a not-so-sizzling 18.9.

“He shoots like 20 percent,” Parker noted. “That's what we wanted.”

But the percentages weren't with the Spurs on Wednesday. They were due. And Ukic had his day.

[wisnub]

Everybody is doing what they can to win, and I appreciate it. We got to loose once in a while. Everybody is doing fine,except Finley. I would say Finley is either stupid or incapable starter...passing down an open shot and pass it to Parker which not in a good condition to shoot. I thought Finley was experienced...or maybe age has caught up with him? He used to make this kind of shot before, why pass up now..I thought he is an experienced ex all star shooter, what happened? Is it time for him to move on to the next team as a trading bait? I dont think so because Pop is in deep love with him. He won games for us before but more and more he did less for us. Is it time for him to move on so he will still remembered as a hero not a moron? What do you think?

[WalterBenitez]

We were close, that final pla won't be in my favorites memories for sure, not because we lost, but that was horrible, IMHO Finley got an open shot (NBA's standard space) and later TP didn't pass the ball.

OK, we lost, but we could easily win.

[duncan228]

The view from the other side.

Toronto's no-stars get job done
Raptors 91 Spurs 89; Improbable Win; Ukic delivers in absence of Bosh, Calderon
Eric Koreen

Roko Ukic was trying to hold court. Jamario Moon felt the need to interject.

Ukic, the Raptors' reserve point guard, was reflecting on his virtuoso 22-point evening that propelled the Raptors to an unlikely 91-89 victory over one of the league's elite teams, the San Antonio Spurs, last night at the Air Canada Centre. His performance included a game-winning running jumper with just 20 seconds remaining.

Moon was screaming over his teammate's thoughts.

"Roko, tell them you live for it," Moon hollered.

Against the Spurs, there was little use rejecting that notion. Ukic's 22 points were the most he has scored in his short NBA career. He was nine of 13 from the floor in 30 minutes of action, all career highs for the rookie.

Ukic hit a rare pair of three-pointers -- he was just seven of 37 from long distance this season -- including one with just 50 seconds left to put his team within one point.

But nothing was more impressive than the game-winning runner. Still trailing by a point with just 21 seconds remaining, Ukic, with no passing lanes available, drove at Spurs all-star guard Tony Parker and hit a floater over allstar Tim Duncan.

"I really like those situations when I have got the ball on top [of the key], and I just need to score," Ukic said. "I feel pretty comfortable in that situation much more than, for example, shooting the free throws in the end or something like that. I really like live play and trying to make something happen. I didn't feel

much pressure. I just took him to the basket because I saw nobody was helping and the lane was pretty much open."

"When he gets into the game, we like to put him in the screen-roll situation because he's good at getting to the basket and he's good at making other guys play him," Raptors coach Jay Triano said. "When San Antonio started to switch, he started to attack the bigger guys and he was pretty effective. Yeah, the threes were a bonus."

The Raptors' head-scratching first half of the season -- half being defined as the part before this weekend's NBA allstar break -- deserved a truly head-scratching conclusion. Ukic was the key in delivering just that in a win that ranks as the most unlikely of the season.

Toronto (21-34) was missing Chris Bosh and Jose Calderon because of injury.

The offensive focal points in their absence, Jermaine O'Neal and Andrea Bargnani, combined to shoot 10 of 32 from the field.

Add to that Joey Graham's departure from the game after nine minutes because of a left shin bruise, and the Raptors essentially beat the Spurs with just seven available players.

Given that the Spurs had won 10 of their last 12 games leading up to last night, that is no easy feat.

"We didn't look past it at all," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "We are not built like that and our guys don't do that. The Raptors won the game, not because we were down or came off of Boston or anything else.

"We busted our asses tonight and down the stretch they hit about two or three [three-pointers.]

"They earned the victory so it has nothing to do with us not being ready. Give them credit."

Go figure.

[EricB]

“He shoots like 20 percent,” Parker noted. “That's what we wanted

On top of that he double pumped the damn shot


I still have no qualms with giving that stiff open 3s.

[Galileo]

Duncan had 20 points, 13 rebounds and seven assists for his league-leading ninth 20-10-5 effort of the season.

Nice, Tim should be an MVP candidate.

[TampaDude]

Bah...they earned it...but it's an Eastern Conference team not from Boston or Cleveland...we won't be seeing them in the playoffs...no worries...

[jdiggy0424]

everyone loses once in a while

last time i checked no team has ever gone undefeated in the regular season.

we had no business losing that game, but it happens