Search Results for: ginobili
San Antonio Spurs 91, Los Angeles Lakers 79 Spurs lead series 1-0 I was of two minds coming into this series. Part of me thought the games might resemble the game last Sunday in the regular season, a complete slog, “defensive” battle (meaning some defense, and a lot of missed shots), with little separation to be found, the victor decided on one or two key plays. Or, I thought the…
I can’t recall ever reading The Guardian, a UK newspaper, for its sports coverage, but that changed today. While reading breaking news in the tragic Boston Marathon bombing story, a headline caught my eye: Can LA Lakers upset the San Antonio Spurs? Seriously?! I don’t know anything about the Guardian’s columnist (provocateur?), or whether the NBA is much of a concern to Guardian readers (doubt it), but I can tell…
Minnesota 108, San Antonio 95 58-24 overall, 35-6 home That was an exciting finish. Not the Spurs game; the Spurs played about the least interesting game tonight, and certainly the least significant in regards to the Spurs’ playoff future. No, most Spurs fans were watching the scoreboard all night: Denver-Phoenix, Memphis-Utah, Clippers-Sacramento, Golden State-Portland, and, most exciting, Lakers-Houston. And by the end of the night, as the last seconds of…
“Dance with the one that brung you” was a favorite expression of University of Texas football coach Darrell Royal. Unfortunately, not all the dancers who ‘brung’ the Spurs to finishing #1 in the Southwest Division, #2 in the Western Conference and #3 in the NBA are still dancing. Manu Ginobili has missed the last nine games with a strained hamstring. (Hopefully, he’ll be back in action tonight.) Stephen Jackson was…
San Antonio 86, Denver 96 57-21 overall, 21-16 road Let’s be clear about one thing from the jump: the Spurs winning this game would have been surprising. Denver has now won 21 games straight at home, and the Spurs were playing without 4 of their top 8 players. The game started well, as the starters came out strong, building a 14-0 lead. But it wasn’t sustainable; the Spurs had no…
Oklahoma City 100, San Antonio 88 (56-20 overall, 23-15 away) There was a lot working against this team going into the game, and even more going against it once it tipped off. We were missing Stephen Jackson and Manu Ginobili, who despite down seasons, both perform quite well against OKC. In fact, if you could have each for only one series in the Western Conference, you’d choose OKC for both….
San Antonio 98, Orlando 84 (56-19 overall, 33-5 home) There’s not much from a team-wide perspective to gleam from this game. With Parker, Leonard, and Ginobili all sitting out, and with Duncan and Splitter playing very limited minutes in anticipation of tomorrow night’s important tilt with OKC, this game was more about role players stepping up and making the most of increased playing time, and not letting down against a…
Memphis Grizzlies 92, San Antonio Spurs 90 (55-19, 23-14 away) The NBA is weird. And cruel. One night after falling to the starless Heat in San Antonio, the Spurs nearly beat a full strength Memphis–sans Duncan, Leonard, and Ginobili–in Memphis. It would have been a nice salve to help ease the disappointment of the Miami loss. Instead, it’s just compounded anger and worry. And heartache. As much as Sunday’s loss…
Miami Heat 88, San Antonio Spurs 86 (55-18, 32-5 home) The Heat returned the favor on Sunday night, by sitting their two biggest stars and giving the Spurs a dogfight on their own floor with their reserves. Unlike the Spurs, however, who were unable to close the deal in Miami earlier in the season, the Heat pulled off an improbable win without either LeBron James or Dwayne Wade. And they…
Another night, another tight game against a Western Conference playoff team. For the second time in as many games, the Spurs came out on the right side of a hotly contested game. And for the second time in as many games, the Spurs did a lot of good things and a lot of bad things en route to the victory. Too much going on for a cohesive narrative, so let’s…
