Led by Ginobili, Spurs grind it out in Game 1
SAN ANTONIO -- For three quarters, you waited and wondered. Could someone, anyone, make a few baskets and turn Game 1 of the NBA Finals into something resembling two-way basketball?
Manu Ginobili answered that question with an emphatic affirmative. The wiry, explosive, and eminently resourceful Spurs guard erupted for 15 of his game-high 26 points in the fourth (on 6 of 6 shooting from the field) and San Antonio posted an 84-69 victory over the Detroit Pistons before 18,797 at the SBC Center. Game 2 will be Sunday night, here, where the Spurs were 38-3 in the regular season and have gone 7-2 in the postseason.
Until Ginobili's explosion, this game was threatening to set a record for fewest points, combined, in a Finals game. The Spurs led, 55-51, after three and there was no need to explain why the Finals were moved out of the May sweeps or why the NBA insists on foisting silly entertainment like Will Smith and Bryan Adams on game night. The product should be sufficient.
But all references to the Providence Steamrollers and the Tri-Cities Blackhawks ceased when Ginobili took over the game. Leading, 55-53, San Antonio went on a game-breaking 19-4 run, with Ginobili accounting for 8 of the 19 points.
The backbreaking, arena-exploding, Pistons-deflating hoop came with the Spurs holding a 9-point lead. With 7:39 left, Ginobili drove the lane and, off-balance as usual, hoisted a righthanded fallaway. The whistle sounded, signaling a foul. The ball hung on the rim for a second or two, with the crowd holding its collective breath. When the ball dropped through, you had Times Square on New Year's Eve, not to mention a 12-point Spurs lead after Ginobili made the free throw.
''Manu Ginobili did what you saw him do and that was the difference in the game," saluted Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. ''He was something else."
''He was great," said Tim Duncan, who more than chipped in with 24 points, 17 rebounds, and 2 blocks. ''Unbelievable. He made big shots for us. He was amazing."
All of that was true, in large part because so many others had brutal offensive nights that Ginobili (10 of 16) stood out like a Tiffany lamp at the local dump's take-it-or-leave-it section. Rip Hamilton, hounded and hassled all night by Bruce Bowen, had 14 points on 21 shots. Afterward, Hamilton sniffed, ''I got any shot I wanted. I just didn't make them."
Bowen was 0 of 6, Tony Parker (15 points) was 7 of 17, and Tayshaun Prince was 4 of 12. The Pistons shot 37.7 percent; Chauncey Billups, who had 25 points on 9-of-16 shooting, was the only visitor with a shooting clue. The Spurs shot 43 percent, but were 12 of 21 in the fourth quarter, including one stretch where they made eight of nine shots.
''I was very upset at halftime," said Ginobili, who had 4 points on 1-of-6 shooting at the half. He was 9 of 10 the rest of the way. ''I tried to slow down, play at a better pace, and things started to go better."
No kidding.
The aforementioned 19-4 run gave the Spurs a comfy, let's-beat-the-traffic 74-57 lead with 5:24 remaining. Two minutes later, however, the lead was down to 7 following a where-did-that-come-from 10-0 Detroit burst. Ginobili then drove the lane for a dunk, knocked down a 3-pointer, and added a short lefty runner, all in the space of 71 seconds. That was enough. The run made it 81-67 with 1:34 to play and the Pistons were out of time and comebacks.
''They defended us better than any team all year," Pistons coach Larry Brown marveled afterward. ''I think most of it came from their effort."
The Spurs needed something to snap them out of a first-quarter funk, falling behind, 17-4, before the game was seven minutes old. Theories abounded; they were too tight, they were rusty from the seven-day layoff, the Pistons were picking up where they left off after beating Miami. Who knows?
''I don't know. I don't care. I don't think about things like that," Popovich said. ''I just know that we started out pretty poorly and we got better as the game went along and we came together and played the way we needed to."
Indeed, San Antonio closed the first with a 13-3 run to trail by only 20-17. The Pistons led, 37-35, at the half and San Antonio did not take the lead for good until two Nazr Mohammed free throws snapped the fourth and last tie, 49-49, with 2:14 left in the third quarter.
After that, it was Manu Time. The Spurs, who had put together quarters of 17, 18, and 20 points, exploded for 29 in the fourth. On a night where scoring was at a premium, that was positively Suns-like, not to mention more than enough to allow the hosts to draw first blood.
