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SAN ANTONIO, Texas: Reigning National Basketball
Association champions San Antonio kept their season alive Thursday
with an emphatic 99-80 victory over the New Orleans Hornets.
Manu Ginobili scored 25 points
and Tim Duncan added 20 points with 15 rebounds for the Spurs, who
fended off elimination and forced a decisive Game 7 in their Western
Conference second-round series.
Now the Spurs must secure the
first victory by a road team in the series at New Orleans Arena on
Monday if they are to keep their title defense alive.
The third quarter again proved
crucial, as San Antonio outscored New Orleans 20-12 in the period.
“Ugly, that third quarter was
ugly,” said New Orleans point guard Chris Paul, who battled
through foul trouble to finish with 21 points and 8 assists.
But it was a welcome change for
the Spurs, who had been outscored by the Hornets 93-46 in the third
quarter of the games in New Orleans in this series.
“There’s something about them
third quarters,” Paul said. “After game five they felt like they
couldn’t get a break, same thing for us tonight.”
The Spurs took a 78-63 lead into
the final period. Ginobili, who was 6-of-9 from 3-point range, then
hit back-to-back 3-pointers to open the quarter and give the Spurs a
21-point lead that the Hornets would never challenge.
Duncan took a seat on the bench
shortly thereafter.
“The whole series, man, third
quarter looks like its pivotal,” said San Antonio’s Tony Parker.
“Tonight we did a good job. “We played pretty good defense,
offense, got a good lead, once again everybody rested in the fourth
quarter.”
The Spurs jumped to a 36-24 lead
in the first quarter behind Duncan’s 10 points, San Antonio
shooting 71 percent from the field in the opening period.
In the second quarter, the
Hornets scored five straight to narrow the gap somewhat, cutting
their deficit to 46-39 with 6:17 left in the quarter.
Ginobili responded, however,
knocking down two straight 3-pointers which gave the Spurs a 52-43
lead with 4:05 left in the half en route to a 58-51 advantage at the
break.
--AFP
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