|
SAN ANTONIO, Texas: The reigning National Basketball Association
champion San Antonio Spurs battled back into their playoff semifinal
series Sunday with a 103-84 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.
Manu Ginobili returned to form with 30 points
and Tim Duncan scored 20 points with 21 rebounds as the Spurs
rebounded from two defeats in Los Angeles to narrow the gap to 2-1
in the best-of-7 Western Conference final series.
The winner of the series will advance to the NBA
finals.
Tony Parker scored 20 points as the Spurs
avoided falling into an 0-3 hole and remained unbeaten at home in
this postseason.
San Antonio, whose top trio of Ginobili, Duncan
and Parker combined for 73 points, now has the opportunity to knot
the series at 2-2 when it hosts Game 4 on Tuesday.
Duncan said he and the rest of the team knew
they had to step it up against a Lakers team led by NBA Most
Valuable Player Kobe Bryant.
“We expected to play this thing from horn to
horn, that’s what we came in here thinking about and wanted to
do,” he said.
“When it comes down to it, players have got to
play. Manu brought that to the table, Tony did a great job tonight.
We got some big contributions from our bench.
“It doesn’t matter what the game plan is,
doesn’t matter how you draw it up—people have to show up, people
have to put performances on the floor,” Duncan said.
Bryant scored 30 points and Pau Gasol added 15
for the Lakers, who were held under 20 points in both the second and
third quarters. Jordan Farmar with 10 was the only other Laker in
double figures.
The Spurs, who led 69-57 after three quarters,
opened the final period on a 12-4 run that stretched their lead to
20 points with 8:10 to play.
Ginobili, the reigning Sixth Man of the Year
converted a three-point play that gave San Antonio a 97-78 with 3:26
left in the game, and Bryant and Gasol went to the bench shortly
thereafter.
Bryant had kept things interesting midway
through the fourth period when he scored 9 points on three
possessions.
He hit a 3-pointer with less than five remaining
that cut the deficit to 88-76, but Duncan’s strong move on the
next possession over Gasol turned into a three-point play.
Ginobili, who scored just 17 points combined in
the first two games, had 22 points by halftime.
“I am kind of surprised with the points that I
scored,” Ginobili said. “I knew I was going to be more
aggressive. I made five threes in the first half, that got me going.
That was the only difference, I just played more aggressive and made
more shots.”
The Lakers held an early lead when Ginobili hit
back-to-back 3-pointers with 3:35 left in the first quarter to trim
the lead to 15-14.
With 9:08 to play in the second, a Lakers
turnover led to a bounce pass from Brent Barry to a blazing Parker
to give the Spurs their first lead, 27-26, since early in the first.
Ginobili then struck again, hitting back-to-back
threes for the Spurs with just over seven minutes left in the
second.
Ginobili tested his luck late in the first half
with a fade away 3-pointer with 58 seconds remaining that put the
Spurs up 49-37. Bryant answered with a layup that made it a 10-point
halftime deficit.
“He hit a lot of big shots,” Bryant said of
Ginobili. “I’ve seen him do it before, he gets extremely
aggressive, starts knocking down shots and plays with a lot of
energy. He played well.”
Also key, said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, was
Bruce Bowen’s job defending Bryant.
-- AFP
|
