San Antonio Spurs rout Cleveland Cavaliers; Move one step closer towards the clinching top seed in the Western Conference...
The San Antonio Spurs continued their dominance of the Western Conference with a comfortable 114-98 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers here at the AT&T Center. The Spurs have now won 7 games in a row, and 18 of their last 20.
They seem to be peaking at the right moment, winning four of their last five games by more than 21 points.
The Spurs need to win their next game against Portland Trail Blazers to clinch the 1st seed in the Western Conference and ensure home court advantage all the way to the NBA Finals.
Manu Ginobili led the Spurs scoring with 20 points in just 22 playing minutes, going 9 of 12 from the field. Tim Duncan did not play the game although he was suited up. Antawn Jamison led the Cavaliers scoring with 21 points and
Kyrie Irving returned to action after missing 9 games due to a shoulder injury. The ‘Rookie of the Year’ probable had 19 points for the night.
"Yeah, we want to clinch as soon as possible. Tomorrow we hope to have a good game here as we're trying to play our best and keep improving. We still have a little room for improvement and we want to become more solid and play
a better game than today. If we can pick up the aggressiveness then we can try to set the pace for the playoffs” said Ginobili after the game.
The Spurs went on a 13-2 run to finish the 1st quarter and led 29-22 at the close of the period and then reeled off a 9-0 spurt early in the second to lead by as many as 16. They however faced a comeback from the Cavaliers
late in the period in the form of a 10-2 run which cut the Spurs lead to 45-39. The Spurs led 52-44 at halftime and 81-80 at the end of the 3rd period.
Cavs still had a fighting chance in the game. However, San Antonio had a strong 4th quarter, going on an 11-1 run to extend their lead to 102-82 with only 5:11 left in the game. Stephen Jackson scored 9 consecutive points
to cap that run as the Cavaliers defense fell apart. The Spurs went on to win the game 114-98.
San Antonio had a great final quarter, with their bench scoring all 33 points and the Spurs going 11 of 18 from the field and 3 of 4 from the distance.
Jackson finished with 17 points and 5 rebounds for the night, going 5 of 9 from the field. Danny Green had 14 points and DeJuan Blair added 15 points, 7 rebounds and 2 steals. The Spurs bench combined for 62 points for the night.
Manny Harris had 14 points for Cleveland and Alonzo Gee added 10 points off the bench.
The Spurs shot an incredible 54.5% from the field, including an 8 of 20 shooting from beyond the arc. Cleveland could not keep up, going 42% from the field and 22.7% from the distance. The Spurs had 23 assists for the game, 9 more
than Cleveland. The Cavs had a 14-5 offensive rebounds advantage over San Antonio but could not keep up in scoring and eventually faded away.
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