[工地]12.01 Same old Spurs get past pesky T'wolves

[秦七]

Same old Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) get past pesky T'wolves

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA120107.01C.BKNspurs.wolves.gamer.2c68b86.html

Web Posted: 12/01/2007 12:42 AM CST
Jeff McDonald
Express-News

MINNEAPOLIS — There is a running joke in the Spurs' locker room about their ever-advancing age and how it often plays in the papers.

When they play poorly, the mostly 30-something Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) are panned as a too-old, too-decrepit team days away from applying for AARP membership. When they play well, the mostly 30-something Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) are hailed as tough, seasoned veterans who simply know how to win.

For three quarters of what became a 106-91 victory at Minnesota on Friday, the old and decrepit Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) seemed poised to fall to the young and rebuilding Timberwolves. When it mattered most, however, the seasoned winners in them showed up.

Manu Ginobili (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/manu_ginobili) had a season-high 31 points and made a career-best seven 3-pointers and Tim Duncan (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/tim_duncan) finished with 20 points and 14 rebounds as the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) awakened from their three-quarter slumber in time to escape the Target Center with a victory.

"With a young team, it takes a while to build that confidence," Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) coach Gregg Popovich said. "We're older than dirt — we figured that out a long time ago — so that's not a problem we have."

The Spurs' been-there, done-than moxie turned out to be a problem for the tortured Timberwolves, who came unraveled in the third quarter.

With 3:05 left in the frame, Minnesota led by 13 points. From that point forward, the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) outscored the Timberwolves 44-16 — including a devastating 32-11 margin in the fourth.

The Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) (14-3) did not take their first lead of the game until 9:05 remained. Not long after, the Timberwolves (2-12) came apart in a hail of turnovers and clanked jumpers.

By the 4:20 mark, the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) were ahead by 10, courtesy of a Brent Barry (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/brent_barry) 3-pointer.

Minnesota's rout of the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) was off. The Spurs' rout of Minnesota was on.

"They're the NBA champions," said Minnesota's Al Jefferson, who finished with 23 points and 11 rebounds to hold up his end of an entertaining duel with Duncan. "That's what they do."

Before the NBA champions did what they do, Minnesota — shockingly — seemed poised to earn its third victory of the season at their expense.

Jefferson was performing a pretty spot-on impression of former Timberwolves star Kevin Garnett. Ryan Gomes and Sebastian Telfair were trading jump shots, scoring 10 points apiece in the third quarter alone.

A 12-4 run to start the third helped Minnesota transform a halftime tie into an eight-point lead 41/2 minutes in. It soon bulged to 11 when Gomes sunk Minnesota's fourth 3-pointer of the quarter, sending the entire bench into a frenzy.

The Spurs, officially, were worried.

"I really didn't think we were going to win it," Ginobili admitted.

Seemingly out of options, Popovich turned to a mythological solution.

"Maybe we needed to find the fountain of youth," he said.

When the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) finally found the cure to their old age in the second half, a pair of 30-somethings — Ginobili and Duncan — led them there.

Rekindling memories of his classic battles with Garnett in this building, Duncan had 10 points and eight rebounds in the third quarter as the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) commenced their comeback.

Ginobili, who missed only two of his nine 3-point tries, made a crushing pair of them in the fourth.

And just as quickly as the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) seemed on the verge of a stunning defeat, they were on the verge of a stirring victory.

"We just turned it on tonight, and usually it's not so easy to do," Ginobili said.

By night's end, age had trumped youth. Experience had defeated inexperience. The team that knew how to win won.

And, most significantly, the seasoned veteran Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) had beaten the old and decrepit ones.

[秦七]

Duncan probably OK: Star's knee, ankle injuries overshadow Spurs' victory

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA120307.01D.BKNspurs.blazers.gamer.29b8340.html

Web Posted: 12/02/2007 10:54 PM CST
Jeff McDonald
Express-News

The Franchise collapsed in a heap on the floor, writhing in pain and clutching his knee. Instinctively, Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) center Francisco Elson knew that this was no good at all.

"Anybody going down is scary," Elson said. "But especially if it's Tim Duncan (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/tim_duncan)."

Indeed, the sight of Duncan in a heaving, crumpled pile on the floor during the first half of the Spurs' 100-79 victory over Portland on Sunday was enough to suck the oxygen out of the AT&T Center.

The preliminary diagnosis — bruised right knee, sprained right ankle but no apparent ligament damage — should serve as a defibrillator to restart the hearts of Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) fans everywhere.

Duncan, injured when he got tangled up with Portland's James Jones with 7:40 left in the second quarter, likely will sit out Wednesday's game against Dallas and possibly more.

X-rays taken at the arena were negative, though the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) will await the results of an MRI today before breathing a full sigh of relief.

"It's more scary than anything else," coach Gregg Popovich said. "I hope he won't be out for long, but he will probably miss a little bit of time."

As the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) left the arena Sunday evening, however, they knew the news could have been so much worse. At first gruesome glance, given the manner in which Duncan's knee crumbled beneath him, ligament damage appeared to be inevitable.

"It looked bad," Tony Parker (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/tony_parker) admitted.

With Duncan out of sight, but never out of mind, Parker and a hyperactive bench picked up the slack to smack the Trail Blazers, sending the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) to 10-0 at home for the first time in club history.

Parker scored 27 points to go with eight assists, and Brent Barry (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/brent_barry) led a list of three Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) reserves in double figures with 17. The Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) (15-3) responded to Duncan's departure with a 17-6 run that helped give them a 13-point halftime lead.

Even without Duncan, their defensive middleman, the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) were able to hold Portland (5-12) to 40 percent shooting (30 of 75). LaMarcus Aldridge and Brandon Roy, Portland's top two scorers, combined for 12 points and missed 14 of 17 field goals.

"They turned it up," Roy said. "They got better after Tim went down."

At the precise moment Duncan fell, however, the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) saw their hopes of defending their title flash before their eyes.

Duncan and Jones were locked into each other in the high post when both players went jostling for a high lob pass.

As Duncan prepared to go airborne, Jones appeared to give him a slight bump. As he fell to the floor, Duncan's right leg buckled beneath him like a cheap accordion.

Panic and pandemonium ensued.

Michael Finley, thinking Jones was lingering over a prone Duncan a bit too long, gave him a quick shove — and picked up a technical foul

"It was a little bit of frustration, a little bit of seeing my teammate and good friend down and defenseless," Finley said. "I just took it upon myself to get (Jones) out of the way. He wasn't helping the situation, so get him out of the way."

Duncan stayed down for several minutes, in obvious pain, and eventually required assistance to get to the locker room. He did not return to the bench.

Afterward, Jones said he didn't mean Duncan harm. He said he thought Duncan had slipped on his own.

Whatever the cause, Duncan's injury felt like a punch in the gut to the rest of the Spurs. It took the wind out of them, but only for a couple possessions.

"We knew we had to stay focused," Parker said. "We had to keep playing, and then whatever happened, happened."

To the Spurs, what happened in the training room was infinitely more significant than what happened on the scoreboard.

They won the game. More importantly, it appears they were also able to avoid a devastating loss.

[秦七]

Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) block out Mavs - Elson's rejection, Ginobili's 37 lead Duncan-less win

http://www.mysanantonio.com/sports/basketball/nba/spurs/stories/MYSA120607.01C.BKNspurs.mavs.gamer.29b885a.html

Web Posted: 12/06/2007 12:32 AM CST
Jeff McDonald
Express-News

Ninety minutes before tipoff Wednesday night, Manu Ginobili (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/manu_ginobili) sat in the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) locker room, feverishly working on a text message.

Just to be on the safe side, the left-hander let his right finger do all the talking.

He knew something that, at that moment, few outside the locker room walls did: Before the night was over, he would have better uses for his shooting hand.

Shaking off a sore index finger he had injured two nights earlier, Ginobili celebrated his return to the starting lineup by pumping in a season-high 37 points to lift the Tim Duncan (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/tim_duncan)-less Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) past rival Dallas, 97-95.

"There was no doubt in my mind I was going to help these guys tonight," Ginobili said. "Of course, I didn't think I would have a game like this."

Nursing a sprained right ankle, Duncan spent the game on the AT&T Center sidelines looking dapper — if slightly uncomfortable — in his league-mandated suit jacket.

The Spurs, still stinging from a 105-92 loss at Dallas in November that Ginobili called "embarrassing," weren't about to use the absence of their nine-time All-Star as an excuse.

Ginobili wouldn't let them.

He scored 16 points during the third quarter, practically willing the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) (16-3) out of a 10-point first-half hole and into the lead for good.

By the time Ginobili's third quarter was done, the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) held a seven-point edge.

His night ended after two last gasps by the Mavs. Francisco Elson swatted a Jason Terry layup attempt into the first row with two seconds left. Then Dirk Nowitzki missed what Dallas coach Avery Johnson called a "stone-cold, wide-open 3-pointer" as time expired that would have given the Mavericks the victory.

Instead, the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) won their 11th consecutive home game to start the season, extending a club record.

"I didn't expect anything less than what we got tonight," Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) coach Gregg Popovich said. "You could win or you could lose, but we knew the effort was going to be there."

Tony Parker (http://www.chinaspurs.com/players/tony_parker) finished with 23 points, and Michael Finley — moving to the bench so Ginobili could start — hit three crucial second-half 3-pointers as the Spurs (http://www.chinaspurs.com) broke a four-game losing streak to Dallas (12-7).

Nowitzki sleepwalked his way to 15 points on 4-of-11 shooting. A good part of the time, Nowitzki found himself defended by Parker, the Spurs' point guard, who offered a decent turn as the team's new resident "Dirk stopper."

Josh Howard had 22 points to lead Dallas, while Terry scored 10 of his 20 points in the game's final 2:23 to bring the Mavs to within two and set the stage for Nowitzki's final miss.

As the ball left Nowtizki's hand and flew rimward, Ginobili inhaled. He didn't breathe out until the ball had caromed harmlessly off the back iron.

"I was holding my breath," Ginobili said. "After the great game we played, that would have been an emotional way to lose."

Whether Ginobili would be available for the latest renewal of the I-35 rivalry was in doubt until Wednesday morning.

Not only did Ginobili play, he wound up picking up his first start of the season in a shuffled Spurs' lineup.

Elson started in Duncan's power forward slot. Ginobili replaced Finley at shooting guard.

The swap seemed to energize Finley, who finished with 14 points — including a 4-of-5 effort from 3-point range.

Ginobili, meanwhile, started slow, missing his first four shots — including a rare airball.

"With the finger bothering me, I really didn't shoot that well," he said.

He made up for his lack of shooting touch by attacking the basket as if it had stolen his wallet.

He flew into the lane with his trademark reckless abandon, sore hand forgotten. When he wasn't completing drives, he was drawing fouls — he was 11 of 12 from the free throw line.

His highlight-reel topper: a soaring third-quarter dunk over both Josh Howard and DaSagana Diop.

The slam couldn't have been good for his bruised hand, but no matter.

He had saved himself for moments like this.