Duncan, Ginóbili Pick Up The Pace to Spark Spurs
Spurs 103, Lakers 84

By Michael Lee
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, May 26, 2008

SAN ANTONIO, May 25 -- San Antonio Spurs forward Tim Duncan found himself in a mismatch against Los Angeles Lakers reserve Sasha Vujacic. The 6-foot-7 Vujacic frantically waved his arms and jumped, trying to distract the 6-11 Duncan, who stared blankly at Vujacic as the AT&T Center crowd urged him to make a move.

Duncan lowered his head and attempted to drive. He lost his dribble, rushed to pick up the ball and pushed up an ugly-looking baseline jumper that resembled so many of the shots he missed in the first two games of the Western Conference finals in Los Angeles.

This time, though, Duncan's shot splashed through the net, his home fans shot up from their seats and cheered -- and the Spurs celebrated the change of scenery.

A comfortable flight home, a day of rest and some familiar rims made all of the difference for the defending champions, who moved within 2-1 in this best-of-seven series with a 103-84 victory over the Lakers on Sunday. It was a night when Duncan and the Spurs finally hit shots, Tony Parker finally found the holes in the Lakers' defense and Manu Ginóbili finally shook off injuries, exhaustion and Vujacic.

"I think we're feeling pretty good," Parker said after scoring 20 points. "We were on the road for a long time, with all the plane problems, and now we're back home and it feels good."

Duncan, Parker and Ginóbili combined to score 72 points as the Spurs improved to 7-0 at home this postseason and announced their arrival to this series in convincing fashion.

Ginóbili led the charge, as he surpassed his combined scoring total from the first two games (17) in the first half, when he made five three-pointers and had 22 of his team-high 30 points. He had just five field goals combined in the first two games in Los Angeles, where he struggled with a bum left ankle, a torn fingernail on his shooting hand and overall exhaustion.

"I was too stagnant in the first two games," Ginóbili said. "I didn't feel like I was being me. That's why I wanted to really attack the rim or play aggressively."

His aggression became contagious for the Spurs, who shot 51.4 percent. They were also much more active on defense, as they made Kobe Bryant work for all 30 of his points, shut down Lamar Odom's drives to the basket and contested the lobs to Pau Gasol. The Lakers shot just 42.7 percent, with Gasol and Odom combining to shoot just 9 for 29.

"Our defense was huge, but on top of that, we got to put the ball in the hole," said Duncan, who had 22 points and 21 rebounds. "You see shots go down, it's great for everybody. It makes everybody else's shots a little bit easier."

After Lakers reserve guard Jordan Farmar (10 points) hit a three-pointer to bring the Lakers within 69-60 to start the fourth quarter, the Spurs took all of the suspense from the game over the next four minutes with a 12-1 run which concluded when Duncan hit Parker cutting back door for an easy layup that gave the Spurs an 81-61 lead.

The Spurs flew home to San Antonio late Friday night aboard the New York Knicks' charter plane, which allowed them to avoid having to sleep on the tarmac as they did on a disastrous trek from New Orleans to Los Angeles after eliminating the Hornets in the conference semifinals. The Spurs' time in Los Angeles was nearly as terrible, with San Antonio blowing a 20-point, second-half lead before losing in Game 1, and then getting smashed by 30 points in Game 2.

Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich gave his team the day off on Saturday, hoping that his players could use the time to recover from the fatigue that came from beating New Orleans in seven games and diving headfirst into a well-rested Lakers team less than 48 hours later.

"They were more energized and they played with a lot more emotion, a lot more energy than we did," Lakers Coach Phil Jackson said. "They were quicker to the ball. And it was quite obvious at times."

Popovich again started Michael Finley and brought Ginóbili off the bench for the second game in a row. Ginóbili entered less than five minutes into the first quarter and his first shot -- a running seven-footer -- barely grazed the rim. But the Argentine quickly found his groove as he buried back-to-back three-pointers to bring the Spurs within 15-14.

Ginóbili had two more three-pointers sandwiched between a Vujacic bank shot to give San Antonio a 33-30 lead. Then, after a Bryant jumper, Ginóbili pump-faked Vujacic, drove baseline and converted a three-point play after Ronny Turiaf fouled him on a reverse layup.

Lakers reserve Luke Walton hit a bank shot that brought the Lakers within 38-36, but the Spurs went on an 11-1 run over the next five minutes. Parker hit a 19-foot jumper, Duncan tipped in his own miss and hit a turnaround jumper and Parker hit another jumper. Then, Ginóbili leaned to his right to give himself space from Vujacic and uncorked a high-arcing three-pointer to give San Antonio a 49-37 lead.

"He hit a lot of big shots," Bryant said. "He hit one shot that just made me laugh. It was right in Sasha's face. It was great defense. He bounced back the way that I thought he would."