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Just read in another thread Manu has a nasal fracture.
Updated.
Ginobili, Spurs take 2-1 series lead over Mavs
By Paul J. Weber
Blood dripped from Manu Ginobili’s nose. He had caught an elbow from Dirk Nowitzki, then disappeared into the locker room while leaving a trail of red blotches behind him on the tunnel floor.
He didn’t know yet his nose was broken. That diagnosis would have to wait.
Ginobili still had work to do, so he patched up his gushing nose with a bandage and came back late in the third, then scored 11 of his 15 points in the fourth to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 94-90 victory over the Dallas Mavericks on Friday night.
The Spurs took a 2-1 lead by surviving the first shot at home from the NBA’s best road team. The Mavs will try again Sunday night in Game 4—or risk facing a steep deficit.
“If Dirk or Jason Kidd get hurt, people like that who are ultimate compe ors, they play unless they can’t do it,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “That’s what (Manu) did.”
Ginobili was diagnosed with a nasal fracture and did not speak to the media after the game. He was scheduled to undergo a CT scan on Saturday.
The Mavs have their own problems to diagnose. Nowitzki made good on his vow after the Game 2 loss to hit the looks he got last time, scoring 35 points.
He and J.J. Barea jump-started the Mavs back into the game with a 17-0 run in the third quarter that gave Dallas a lead for only the second time in the series since their Game 1 win when Nowitzki had 36 points.
Nowitzki had help in that game—notably from Caron Butler, who had 22 in the victory. But Butler never left the bench in the second half on Friday as coach Rick Carlisle instead went instead with Barea in the backcourt.
Butler went from being a major force in Game 1 to being nonexistent by Game 3. He made just one of three shots and finished with two points, which comes after he averaged 19.5 points in two games in Dallas.
Carlisle said the Mavs needed penetration. Barea did help the Mavs build a 68-59 lead in the third, but the lead didn’t last long.
“The only thing I can look at now is missed opportunities,” Mavs guard Jason Terry said. “You’ve got a nine-point lead in the latter stages of the game. A good team, a championship team, holds that lead and walks away with it.”
The Mavs will spend between now and Sunday trying to figure out how to even this series. A start might be figuring out what happened to Nowitzki’s supporting cast.
Terry scored 17 points and Barea had 14.
“Coach just goes with whoever is working that night and we went with a three-guard lineup,” Nowitzki said. “It was working for a while but we didn’t seem to have enough down the stretch.”
The run came when Ginobili was out. Blood dripped from his nose after taking the inadvertent elbow from Nowitzki, who had jumped to take a shot. Ginobili left for the locker room and returned 5 minutes later.
When he did come back, the Spurs said it was “up to his ability to tolerate the pain.”
He managed just fine.
“I had no doubt that he was going to return,” Spurs forward Tim Duncan said. “He has a strong nose on him.”
Aside from Game 4, Sunday is also when Duncan turns 34—but so far in this series, he’s looked practically ageless. He scored 25 points for the second straight game, and has the Spurs in position to possibly celebrate a commanding lead in this series if they can win on his birthday.
Tony Parker had 23 points off the bench while continuing to thrive in the sixth man role that Ginobili held for so many years. He hit a 20-footer to give the Spurs the lead for good with 2:34 left, then made another from the corner the next time down to push the lead to three.
That was as close as Dallas would get.
The Mavs must now lean on their NBA-best road record during the regular season to try and get a split before the series returns to Dallas for Game 5.
Coming off 27 points in the series opener and 25 points in Game 2, Duncan resumed a playoff career of giving the Mavericks fits. He made baseline turnarounds over Erick Dampier, swished jumpers from the perimeter and capped a 12-0 run in the first with a wide-open dunk.
Duncan labored down the stretch of the regular season. But he’s now put together three consecutive 20-point games for the first time since January.
The Mavs came into the series lauded for their deep roster. But over the last two games, the Spurs have looked like the team with more weapons. This time it was George Hill helping San Antonio’s Big Three, scored 17 points.
NOTES: The Spurs got some good news Friday: Ginobili said he will not play for the Argentina national team this summer at the world championships in Turkey. Ginobili’s wife is expecting to give birth to twin boys in a month, and he said he’s looking forward to his first healthy offseason in two years. … The Spurs missed all seven 3-point attempts.
Last edited by duncan228; 04-24-2010 at 01:39 AM.
Just read in another thread Manu has a nasal fracture.
2 down, 14 to go...
Great win spurs ...Mavs in trouble ....
Did you watch the game man?
I really want to know how Manu's broken nose is.
anyone want to stay up till 3am to watch the replay on espn of the game? eheheh
Great win!!!
I wish Bruce was still on the team so he could be enjoying this run with the team. But I'm sure he's enjoying it anyway because it's the MAVS.
That game in and of itself took too much out of me, have to re-charge for the rest of the playoffs.
Yet and still, it wouldn't be a Spurs-Mavs series without a few of those....last year was the exception given the injury situation.
Congratulations Spurs!
Everybody contributed & deserve afor not losing composure when the Mavs leading by 8 or 9? in the 3rdQ. Then slowly I saw that KILLER-INSTINCT. Hope Manu is ok and let's win the next one in San Antonio.
BTW, nice "hospitality" San Antonians huh
Bands playing at the Riverwalk near the Mavs hotel at midnight or wee hrs in the morning? How cool is that?
Advance Happy birthday to Timmy!!!!! :UR the best!
One of the best parts of the game for me was watching Hill step up his game as soon as Manu left the floor to go to the locker room. He really struggled the last couple of games, after that injury. But you could see him dig down when Manu went out, and he came up with some really great plays.
The really good players seem to find a way to dig down when the team really needs it. It made me feel even better about the kind of player Hill is and will become.
Agreed.
And I really like watching those Hill's off-balanced shots
I didn't know he was that fast...
Oh , Timmy's Birthday is on the same day of Game 4 this Sunday. Well then lets give him the ultimate present by turning this Series 3-1 Spurs.
I'm real proud of my Spurs tonight. Real proud. We have that fire back. We have that passion.
GO SPURS GO!
Good no call, in game time I thought Parker got away with a huge no call on Barea since it was a 3pt game, Parker's shot made it a 5pt game. Now looking back at the game (thank you ESPN3.com) it was a Barea flop, sure there was contact but not getting shot with buckshot type contact.
Barea sold several flops in the game, and does an excellent job at it. George Hill matched him at his own game, and the refs weren't biting once crunchtime rolled around.
Good no call, in game time I thought Parker got away with a huge no call on Barea since it was a 3pt game, Parker's shot made it a 5pt game. Now looking back at the game (thank you ESPN3.com) it was a Barea flop, sure there was contact but not getting shot with buckshot type contact.
I'm glad to see this in .gif format. Parker puts his left arm out but doesn't actually make contact with it. Barea hooks Parker's left hand with his right elbow, and then leaps backwards. Parker *never* pushed with his left hand; Barea pulled it towards himself and then flopped. GREAT no call.
Good no call, in game time I thought Parker got away with a huge no call on Barea since it was a 3pt game, Parker's shot made it a 5pt game. Now looking back at the game (thank you ESPN3.com) it was a Barea flop, sure there was contact but not getting shot with buckshot type contact.
good win spurs.
who is that angry midget on the mavs team?
Manu Ginobili Breaks Nose, Then Mavs' Hearts
By Tom Ziller
In the third quarter of Game 3 of Spurs-Mavericks Friday night, San Antonio's enigmatic playmaker Manu Ginobili attempted to cut off a driving Dirk Nowitzki a bit too late. Dirk's elbow, famous for the damage it can cause, swung by Manu's face, clipping the Spur's nose. Dirk sung the runner as Ginobili immediately rocked backward, and as Nowitzki prepared for his free throw (yes, Manu was called for the foul) Ginobili headed to the bench to have a cut on his nose repaired.
Moments later, Manu left for the locker room. ESPN showed a grisly split-screen, on one side Manu's usual profile and on the other a crooked, crooked snout, captured post-elbow. The prognosis, after a post-game X-ray: a fractured nose. (Manu reportedly wouldn't allow the Spurs medics diagnose the injury when he went to the locker room -- as soon as the bleeding was stemmed, he made a beeline for the court.)
The Spurs had led by four when Manu left the game, after Nowitzki's free throw. The Mavericks continued to stall for a few possessions, with the Spurs taking an 8-point lead with seven minutes remaining in the third. Here, Dallas began to capitalize on Manu's absence. Nowitzki went berserker, and the Mavericks went on an incredible 17-0 run over the next four minutes.
Ginobili returned late in that run, unbelievably. He missed exactly four minutes and 59 seconds of game time. With a broken nose. He didn't make an immediate impact -- Dallas finished out its run with jumpers by Nowitzki, Jason Terry and Jose Juan Barea, taking a 9-point lead at 68-59.
S.A. bounced back before the quarter let out, with Tim Duncan getting a big and-1 off a Manu pass in transition. Manu didn't score again in the third, and the Spurs trailed 70-66 entering the fourth. And there, Manu struck back.
Ginobili immediately went nuts in the fourth, scoring five points himself (to go along with two from George Hill) before the Mavericks scored one. Manu's second bucket of the quarter -- a Ginobili classic lefty lay-up, plus the foul -- gave San Antonio the lead again. Terry answered with a quick triple to re-tie the game at 73. Manu's next bucket -- a (surprise!) lefty lay-up in which he froze Brendan Haywood at the rim, really a poster-worthy move -- gave S.A. a lead again.
On the quarter, Manu finished with 11 points, three rebounds and an assist, playing all 12 minutes. The Spurs won by four, 94-90, and lead the series 2-1 with Game 4 in San Antonio Sunday.
Of couse, none of this surprising. Manu has always one of the league's most fearless players, and to see him play so aggressively with a broken nose is almost expected. Thank goodness the Spurs extended his contract three more years, because the day the Manu era ends will be a sad one indeed.
I don't see an offensive foul here either. Incidental contact that in no way impeded Barea.
We all know he has eyes in the back of his head. Maybe he has an extra pair of nostrils back there too.
i was calling my gf, telling her she HAD to come see the dwarf that was running around on the court. she couldn't believe what a shrimp he was. i can't believe the Spurs don't squash him like a bug.
It's been a really tough, frustrating season. They've got to be totally pumped that the rock is starting to crack. If they can keep it up and make it out of this round, look the out league.
He'll breathe through his eyes.
Like Fernando Valenzuela.
Duh.
(Bull Durham fans you know what I'm talkin bout...)
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