Manu Ginobili’s 26 Points Spurred The Spurs In Late Rally For Game 1
Sunday night, the top 2 teams in the NBA met for game 1 of the Western Conference Finals. Before game 1 both teams were a combined 16-1 in 2012 playoffs so far. The first quarter the game was pretty much a back and forth game until Manu Ginobli scored 7 points in the last minute of the quarter; one of which including a buzzer beater 3-pointer to put the lead up to 6. By the start of the 2nd quarter, Mr. 0.4 himself, Derek Fisher came up big for the Thunder as he went 5 for 5. With 11 seconds left before halftime, Fish hit a corner three-pointer to put OKC up by 3 points. Immediately preceding this was a last second dunk by Spurs forward, Kawhi Leonard to bring San Antonio to within 1. Fast-forwarding to the 3rd quarter, Oklahoma City began to build a small lead as San Antonio went 6 of 24. The Spurs were held to a game low 16 points for the third as Oklahoma City showcased their signature style paint defense from Serge Ibaka and Kendrick Perkins. In need of a scoring burst for the 4th quarter, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich decided to go with a smaller lineup which in turn led to the Thunder doing the same putting Durant at the 4. For the 4th quarter Ibaka watched from the sideline as OKC lost their momentum from their great defense displayed in the previous quarter. Before the 4th started, Popovich challenged his team to be more confident on the offensive end and become more “nasty” referring to defense. Going into the 4th the Thunder had a 9 point lead over the Spurs. That lead quickly disappeared as San Antonio went on an 11 to 2 run led by Tiaaago Splitter to tie the game. San Antonio drew 3 offensive foul charges from the Thunder in the last period. The story of the game was Ginobli’s big 4th quarter as he scored 11 points. San Antonio went on an 18-3 run with big contributions led by Gary Neal and Stephen Jackson. Ginobli had the play of the game as he put the icing on the game with a razzle-dazzle ball fake that even had the scoring champion Kevin Durant in a blur. That and-1 put the Spurs up by 10 at the 2 minute a never looked back.
The 34 year-old Manu Ginobli finished as the Spurs player of the game as he scored 26 points in 34 minutes of play of the bench. Although he had a poor game visually, Tony Parker’s stat line disagreed as he had 18 points, 8 boards and 6 dimes messing around almost netting a triple-double. Kevin Durant had a game high of 27 points and 10 boards while Russell Westbrook finished with 17 points shooting 7 for 21. This win marks the Spurs a franchise best 19th victory in a row and 30th out of their last 32 games. With the emergence of Derek Fisher’s scoring outburst in game 1 shooting 6 for 8 with 13 points; the only issue with the Thunder was their paint defense as the Spurs scored 50 points there alone. Thunder forward, Serge Ibaka only played 22 minutes of action in game 1 but expect his minutes to be increased for game 2. Oklahoma City isn’t a push over team as the Spurs had problems in the first 3 quarters of game 1 before they made adjustments to win, but expect the Thunder to make adjustments of their own to defend the paint for game 2 as well.
Game 2 is scheduled this Tuesday on TNT with a tip-off set for 9:00 pm (ET).
Win Or Go Home.
(1) San Antonio Spurs vs. (2) Oklahoma City Thunder | Spurs Lead 1-0
Game 1: San Antonio 101, Oklahoma City 98
Game 2: at SAS, Tue. May 29, 9 p.m., TNT
Game 3: at OKC, Thu. May 31, 9 p.m., TNT
Game 4: at OKC, Sat. June 2, 8:30 p.m., TNT
Game 5: at SAS, Mon. June 4, 9 p.m., TNT (If Necessary)
Game 6: at OKC, Wed. June 6, 9 p.m., TNT (If Necessary)
Game 7: at SAS, Fri. June 8, 9 p.m., TNT (If Necessary)
Bonus: Gregg Popovich Tells The Spurs To Get Nasty, Pause.