2010-11 NBA Season: Ginobili leads Spurs past Pacers

The San Antonio Spurs’ typically potent offense struggled at times against the Indiana Pacers. Their defense made up for it, though.

The Spurs held the Pacers to 1-for-15 shooting in the fourth quarter to win 90-87 and snap a two-game skid. Roy Hibbert had a chance to give the Pacers the lead in the closing seconds, but his hook shot fell short.

“We got the win,” San Antonio guard George Hill, an Indianapolis native, said. “Our veterans stepped up when we needed to, and that’s all that matters.”

According to STATS Inc., Indiana’s one field goal in the fourth quarter was the fewest the Pacers have made in a quarter in at least 19 years. STATS’ records go back to the 1991-92 season.

“It’s never just great defense,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “They missed some shots also. Sometimes you don’t make shots. That was part of it. I thought our intensity level, our physicality, got better. I thought we had a good mix on the court that reacted well.”

Manu Ginobili scored 25 points, Tim Duncan had 15 points and 15 rebounds and Hill scored 16 points for the Spurs, who overcame a 15-point deficit to become the first team in the league to win 30 games.

The Spurs were unhappy with the way they played late in a 105-103 loss to Boston on Wednesday and were determined to play better against the Pacers.

“We lost the other night in Boston at the end of the third quarter and the end of the fourth quarter when we didn’t close,” Popovich said. “We turned it over, we imploded defensively, didn’t execute on offense.”

Tyler Hansbrough had career highs of 23 points and 12 rebounds in his first start of the season for the Pacers.

“He almost took the game away from us,” Popovich said. “We couldn’t find anybody to guard him. He ripped us up tonight.”

The Pacers have lost five of six.

“I’m very disappointed for our guys,” Pacers coach Jim O’Brien said. “We played a solid defensive game. For them to come back and beat us, it’s painful. They took their defense to a whole different level in the fourth quarter.”

Indiana led 87-83 in the fourth quarter when Hill scored and was fouled. He made the free throw to cut Indiana’s lead to 87-86 with 1:07 to play.

San Antonio rebounded a miss by Mike Dunleavy and took a timeout with 23.1 seconds remaining. Ginobili drove to the basket and was fouled by Jeff Foster with 15.7 seconds to play. He made both free throws to give the Spurs their first lead of the quarter.

After Hibbert’s miss, the Pacers were forced to foul. Tony Parker made two free throws with 0.8 seconds left to make it 90-87. Indiana’s James Posey missed a 3-pointer from the left corner in his only action of the game as time expired.

“We had them down and led them up,” Indiana point guard Darren Collison said. “We just can’t seem to find a way to close a game out. We have to keep working at that until we get it right.”

The Pacers led for most of the first half, but Ginobili scored eight straight points to turn a 44-40 deficit into a 48-44 lead for the Spurs. Granger made a 3-pointer as time expired in the first half to trim San Antonio’s lead to 48-47 at the break.

Hansbrough hit back-to-back shots, then Granger drained a 3-pointer to give the Pacers a 60-55 lead.

Indiana extended the lead through the rest of the quarter and began to play to the crowd. Dunleavy faked a behind-the-back pass, kept the ball and laid it in to give Indiana a 75-60 lead. Hansbrough had 12 points and six rebounds in the third quarter to help the Pacers take a 75-64 lead at the end of the period.

Gary Neal’s 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter cut Indiana’s lead to 75-69 and caused the Pacers to call timeout. Indiana didn’t make a field goal in the quarter until Dunleavy made a floater with 6:41 left, and the Pacers didn’t make another field goal the rest of the game.

“They just kept playing the game,” Popovich said of his Spurs. “That’s a great sign. We’ve done that several times this year. That’s what a team really needs to sustain in this league. We’re fortunate to get that win tonight.”

by Cliff Brunt

Ginobili: Too Much For the Pacers

On an average, all four Tallbiceleste representatives in the NBA had a good night but only one was on the winning side.

Carlos DELFINO had a superb start for the Milwaukee Bucks against the New Orleans Hornets. He was on target for 5 times from the 3 points paint, totaling 19 points plus 5 rebounds, 1 assist and 3 steals. But the Bucks went down 91-95.

NOCIONI made his debut for the Philadelphia 76ers against none other than the much talked about Miami Big 3. Coming from the bench, he posted 10 points, 5 rebounds, 3 assists plus one block shot. Though the Heat was very much the stronger side, the Sixers still gave a respectable performance before going down 87-97.

The biggest show of the night must have come from Luis SCOLA, as he was bombing the Golden State Warriors. Following his performance against the Lakers from the previous night, SCOLA produce another double-double with 36 points and 16 points plus a steal and block shot. Even that wasn’t enough for his side as the Rockets lost 128-132.

So what about Manu GINOBILI?

Well the newly turned Dad still had all the right stuff in him. GINOBILI was 5 of 9 from three points range posting 22 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals plus one block shot as the Spurs started off with a 122-109 win over the Pacers. The original Big 3 was indeed back in business though the season has just started.

“All three played pretty well for the first game of the season,” GINOBILI said. “And when that happens, everything becomes better.” (quoted from the Associated Press).

Hopefully he will stay healthy throughout the season and we will see more from him.

A post from Mundo Albiceleste.