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Oh, damn."You try to put games behind you," Finley said, "but I've got to keep it real. I laid an Easter egg on Sunday. So I wanted to come out and be aggressive."
Spurs' Finley, Ginobili rev up offense to sweep Magic
Mike Monroe
Express-News
ORLANDO, Fla. — The Spurs walked into Amway Arena on Tuesday morning for a shootaround session intended to set down the defensive principles they would effectively employ later that night against the Orlando Magic, one of the NBA's most efficient offensive units.
Before it began though, some of Tim Duncan's teammates had an evil agenda.
Gathering around the spot from which Orlando's Dwight Howard leaped over Duncan to power-dunk a last-second game-winner last season, they made certain their All-Star power forward recalled the nauseous feeling he had after a play that was a highlight of Orlando's 2006-07 season.
Their goal: Make sure he was prepared to make Howard and his teammates suffer on Tuesday night in what became a 107-97 Spurs victory.
Their jocular ploy worked. Duncan was the anchor of a Spurs defense that succeeded in cooling the NBA's hottest 3-point shooters and containing one of its most dominant post players.
The result was the Spurs' fourth-straight victory.
The Spurs defeated the Magic for the second time this season with one of their most efficient offensive games of the season. Effectively forgetting his 0-for-7 performance in Dallas on Sunday afternoon, Michael Finley made 9 of 13 shots and scored a season-high 24 points.
"You try to put games behind you," Finley said, "but I've got to keep it real. I laid an Easter egg on Sunday. So I wanted to come out and be aggressive."
The Spurs made 54.1 percent of their shots, their second-highest percentage of the season. Duncan was the most efficient of all the Spurs' shooters, making 7 of 10, but it was his defensive work that most affected the outcome. He blocked four shots, including a pair of dunk attempts by Howard.
"I honestly did not remember (last year's buzzer-beating) dunk," Duncan said. "Then it struck me (at the shootaround), and I looked down at that basket, and it just came back in my head. It was hard to forget, but I honestly had.
"The blocks tonight didn't vindicate that play, but this win helps."
Howard, the All-Star center who donned a Superman cape to win the dunk contest on All-Star weekend, is such a heavy load that Spurs coach Gregg Popovich asserted the only way to beat the Magic is to score often enough to offset his production and the 3-point scoring his presence produces.
By the end of the game, though, Howard had been rendered ineffective, despite his deceptively impressive numbers: 24 points and 21 rebounds.
"He played really well in the first half," said Spurs guard Manu Ginobili, who scored a team-high 28 points. "At halftime, we decided we were going to be more aggressive on him. So we went to blitz him much quicker. Tim guarded him better and fronted him a bit, too. It was a great team help."
As satisfied as Popovich was with his team's offensive execution, he stressed the import of its defense in a second half that included a 15-0 third-quarter Spurs run during which the Magic missed nine shots in a row and committed two turnovers.
"I thought our team defense on Dwight Howard in the second half really propelled us," he said. "That was the big change in the two halves. I thought our guys did a good job in that area against a fantastic player."
It didn't hurt the Spurs' defensive plan, which intended to turn their hot 3-point shooters into drivers, that Hedo Turkoglu, who has made 154 threes this season, left the game with a sprained wrist early in the second quarter.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/b...k.3d67ae1.html
Oh, damn."You try to put games behind you," Finley said, "but I've got to keep it real. I laid an Easter egg on Sunday. So I wanted to come out and be aggressive."
they made certain their All-Star power forward recalled the nauseous feeling he had after a play that was a highlight of Orlando's 2006-07 season.
Mike Monroe is pretty damn good..
Oh, damn.
Maybe Fin reads your recaps.
I'm happy for Fin...He hasn't had a good game in a long time. It was really nice to see him in a groove in this win. I'm sure he got down on himself a lot due to the bad shooting slump...
NO WC team yet assured of a playoff spot.
11 games more left for the Spurs.
so how many wins more for the Spurs to clinch playoff birth?
As long as we stay healthy, it's all good. I would love to get a top four spot but health is all that matters. And if we stay healthy, we are not the ninth worst team in the Western Conference.NO WC team yet assured of a playoff spot.
11 games more left for the Spurs.
so how many wins more for the Spurs to clinch playoff birth?
I told you people, eastern's eggs are a source of knowledge!
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