"We wasn't expecting that."

**bigbendbruisebrother** · 05-01-2005

AP Recap, Spurs 86, Nuggets 78

By JOHN MARSHALL, AP Sports Writer
May 1, 2005

DENVER (AP) -- Tim Duncan spent most of the first half in foul trouble and most of the second clanging shots off the rim.

It's a good thing the San Antonio Spurs spent most of the season trying to take some of the pressure off their best player.

Manu Ginobili provided a spark off the bench for the second straight game and Robert Horry hit two big 3-pointers in the fourth quarter, helping the Spurs beat the Denver Nuggets 86-78 on Saturday night for a 2-1 series lead.

"I was proud of our guys for hanging with it for 48 minutes,'' Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "Robert Horry was big for us and Ginobili was aggressive all night.''

It's a good thing.

Duncan managed just four points in 5 first-half minutes because of foul trouble, then missed all eight of his shots in the third quarter. He finished with 11 points and 11 rebounds, hitting just five of 19 shots.

"They are good defenders,'' Duncan said. "I was getting the shots that I wanted, but I wasn't able to knock them down. They are doing a great job, but I'm helping them a little bit."

Horry and Ginobili made up for Duncan's troubles, helping the Spurs take back home court advantage.

Ginobili came off the bench and had an immediate impact -- again.

The Argentinean All-Star picked up the slack after Duncan went out with his second foul in first quarter, scoring 11 points in the final 7 minutes, and added eight more after Duncan picked up his third foul with 8 1/2 minutes left in the second quarter. Ginobili finished with 32 points after getting 17 in 18 minutes in Game 2.

"I saw that the team was not as aggressive as in Game 2 and coming form the bench I tried to change that,'' Ginobili said. "When a guy plays that tough it is contagious and the other guys will do the same.''

Horry, known as ``Big-Shot Bob'' for his knack of hitting clutch 3-pointers, did most of his damage in the fourth quarter.

Denver cut San Antonio's lead to 67-65 on Andre Miller's driving layup, then Bruce Bowen answered with a long jumper. Horry stole the inbound pass and stepped back to swish a 3-pointer, then added another from straightaway to deflate the crowd and put San Antonio up 75-65 with 7 minutes left.

He finished with 13 points.

"Down the stretch, the game turned around when Horry hit those two 3s back-to-back,'' said Denver's Carmelo Anthony, who had 19 points before being ejected for a flagrant foul on Ginobili late in the game. "We wasn't expecting that."

The Nuggets got a boost from returning home, where they had won 12 straight, and a franchise-record 19,913 thunderstick-clapping fans.

The energy only lasted so long.

Denver's aggressiveness was offset by poor free throw shooting -- 17-of-30 -- and the offense was mostly stagnant, turning into the kind of stand-around isolation game that helped get coach Jeff Bzdelik fired during the season.

Part of the Nuggets' problem is that San Antonio has turned the series into a halfcourt dogfight.

Instead of running up and down the floor for lobs and dunks, like they did in the regular season and the series' opener, the Nuggets have been forced to play the Spurs' grind-it-out style the past two games.

Though the Nuggets finished with 20 points in transition after getting just two in Game 2, they got caught up in San Antonio's physical approach and the way the officials called the game.

Particularly troublesome to Denver was the hard-charging game of Ginobili, who seems to dish out as much punishment as he gets.

``I'm going to put in on tape and show my son how to play basketball -- just put your head down and run into people,'' Nuggets coach George Karl said. ``I guess that's a new brand of basketball. It's not very pretty. He just goes in there and throws his arms up in the air and throws his elbows at us. He hits you as much as you hit him.''

Notes

Tom Kiefer, lead singer of the rock band Cinderella and a Colorado native, sang the national anthem. ... Denver Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey and former Nuggets player Rodney White -- now with Golden State -- attended the game. ... The Nuggets set a team playoff record by holding San Antonio to 11 points in the third quarter.

**Walton Buys Off Me** · 05-01-2005

Not only is he an overrated, classless - but he's illeterate as well.

Nice find Vandeweghe.

**warri0r** · 05-01-2005

you guys are so hard on melo

but that was his first hard foul in his life, yet bowen has about 800

**picnroll** · 05-01-2005

Guess Melo doesn't have cable.

**Obstructed_View** · 05-01-2005

Originally Posted by warri0r

you guys are so hard on melo

but that was his first hard foul in his life, yet bowen has about 800

Name one flagrant foul on Bowen. I'm not saying there isn't one, but I certainly can't remember it. So find it and let me know. If you post up him kicking Wally in the face you will get laughed off this board.

**Obstructed_View** · 05-01-2005

Originally Posted by Obstructed_View

Name one flagrant foul on Bowen. I'm not saying there isn't one, but I certainly can't remember it. So find it and let me know. If you post up him kicking Wally in the face you will get laughed off this board.

By the way, I don't want things where the league reclassified something as a flagrant after the fact, or the refs giving him a flagrant after another player started a fight with him, I mean a legitimate dirty foul like the four on the Nuggets in three games.

**bigbendbruisebrother** · 05-01-2005

Originally Posted by warri0r

you guys are so hard on melo

This post had nothing to do with the foul. I was laughing at how stupid the guy is (and I'm not just talking about his grammar). They weren't expecting Robert "Five Rings" Horry to hit wide open threes?

**Obstructed_View** · 05-01-2005

Originally Posted by bigbendbruisebrother

This post had nothing to do with the foul. I was laughing at how stupid the guy is (and I'm not just talking about his grammar). They weren't expecting Robert "Five Rings" Horry to hit wide open threes?

...or to come up big in a big game. That is funny. That's kind of like a boxer saying "I wasn't expecting him to punch me in the face".

**boutons** · 05-01-2005

Bruce has 800 hard fouls?

Nuggets trolls are as ignorant their players.

**Solid D** · 05-01-2005

Denver's aggressiveness was offset by poor free throw shooting -- 17-of-30 -- and the offense was mostly stagnant, turning into the kind of stand-around isolation game that helped get coach Jeff Bzdelik fired during the season.

Part of the Nuggets' problem is that San Antonio has turned the series into a halfcourt dogfight.

Instead of running up and down the floor for lobs and dunks, like they did in the regular season and the series' opener, the Nuggets have been forced to play the Spurs' grind-it-out style the past two games.

Hmmm. 17 Assists. Isolation game. Sound familiar for a George Karl team?

Where's that passing game, motion offense someone was saying the Nuggets had? Motion offenses aren't fast breaks. Motion offenses are run in half-court sets. So where is the motion offense, Denver fans? Troy? Phonz? Anyone?

Let's face it, George Karl likes to spread the floor, work matchups, lift and clear-out, iso or play the 2-man game because he's comfortable with that style when he wants to avoid empty trips.

It's not just what the Spurs are giving them in the half court. It's what Karl is used to doing over the years.

**picnroll** · 05-01-2005

It isn't exactly as if the Nuggets have a high IQ team. Take away Miller and Boykins and they're pretty much below average IQ seeing the floor with every other player.