Sunday, April 20, 2008

NBA - Playoffs round-up: Spurs win classic opener

Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili produced dramatic shots to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 117-115 double overtime victory over the Phoenix Suns in their NBA playoff game.
Duncan sank his first three-pointer of the season to force a second overtime and Ginobili delivered the game-winner on a layup with 1.8 seconds remaining in the game at San Antonio.
"I had all the time in the world to line it up. I just threw it up there and hoped for the best," Duncan said of his clutch shot with three seconds to go in the first overtime.
"It was such a hard fought battle in a game that could have gone either way so easily," added Duncan, who had 40 points and 15 rebounds. "It seemed like a finals game."
In other playoff games, the New Orleans Hornets beat the Dallas Mavericks 104-92 with Chris Paul scoring 35 points, the Cleveland Cavaliers beat the Washington Wizards 93-86 behind LeBron James's 32 points and the Utah Jazz defeated the Houston Rockets 93-82.
At San Antonio, Duncan brought the Spurs back from a 104-99 deficit with a minute to play in the first overtime by scoring the period's final five points.
Ginobili took over in the second extra period, providing eight of the Spurs' 13 points in the period including the winning shot. He ended with 24 points, while Tony Parker scored 26.
Amare Stoudemire scored 33 points and Steve Nash contributed 25 points and 13 assists for the Suns.
Game two of the best-of-seven series is on Tuesday in San Antonio.
In Houston, the Jazz won a hard-nosed 93-82 victory over the Houston Rockets to take a 1-0 lead in their first-round NBA playoff series.
The Jazz dominated the offensive boards in the first half and dug in defensively to hold off a second-half Rockets comeback in a win that took away Houston's home court advantage in the best-of-seven series.
Andrei Kirilenko led Utah with 21 points while Carlos Boozer scored 20 and grabbed 16 rebounds, including seven in the first quarter when the Jazz had seven offensive rebounds to the Rockets' one.
"They really hurt us on the boards offensively, they overpowered us there," said Rockets coach Rick Adelman.
Houston trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half, but came back to briefly take a 53-51 lead in the third quarter before the Jazz pulled away.
Shane Battier led Houston with 22 points, while Tracy McGrady scored 20.
The Rockets, who had a 22-game winning streak during the regular season, hit just 36.7 percent of their shots as Utah often double-teamed McGrady and forced Houston's other players to shoot. Utah hit 52 percent of their shots.
"We shot the ball poorly tonight," said McGrady, who made only seven of 21 shots. "They did a better job executing and knocking down shots."
Utah coach Jerry Sloan said: "It was a good win, obviously, for us. But it's only one game."
The two teams met in last year's first round playoff, with the Jazz winning the series 4-3. The teams play again on Monday night in Houston.

1 comment:

John said...

What a game it was!!!!

Manu my man was the real hero here.

God knows what could have happen in 3OT?

http://mundoalbiceleste.blogspot.com/2008/04/playoffs-news-win-for-manu-scola-makes.html