San Antonio Spurs win fourth-straight after beating the Charlotte Bobcats
The San Antonio Spurs (5-1) won their fourth-straight game on Monday 8 November with a hard-earned 95-91 win over the reeling Charlotte Bobcats (1-6) at the Time Warner Cable Arena in
Charlotte. While the Spurs have put together a winning streak, the Bobcats have now dropped three straight games.
Argentinian guard Manu Ginobili scored a game-high 26 points while Tim Duncan put up a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. The Spurs got 12 points and eight assists from Tony
Parker while undrafted NBA rookie Gary Neal scored 15 points off the bench, going 5-7 from three-point range.
The Michael Jordan-owned Bobcats were led by Tyrus Thomas, who had 16 points and eight rebounds off the bench while starters Boris Diaw and Stephen Jackson chipped in with 15 points apiece.
The Bobcats outscored the visiting team 26-19 in the opening quarter but the Spurs kept the game close by winning the second quarter 25-22 to enter half-time down only four points. After
outscoring the Bobcats 27-21 in the third quarter, two consecutive three-pointers by Neal midway through the fourth quarter put the Spurs up by six points with 5:48 remaining in the game.
With the Spurs giving up a big lead against the Houston Rockets on Saturday 6 November before coming back for the win, they nearly did the same thing last night, allowing the Bobcats to
come back from a nine-point deficit with less than three minutes left in the game.
When Derrick Brown rebounded a missed free throw by Thomas and layed it in, the Bobcats found themselves down 93-91 with 26.8 seconds remaining. But a layup by Ginobli on the next play
clinched the win for the Spurs.
What they said
The story of the game for San Antonio was likely the play of the newcomer Neal, who had spent the past three seasons playing in Italy, Spain, and Turkey before the Spurs contacted him
to join their summer camp. The 6ft 4in guard also had 16 points in a win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Monday 1 November.
"I was in Europe for 10 months and you kind of want to relax and rest your body," Neal said. "But my agent told me that San Antonio is famous for bringing in guys and giving them contracts
if they perform at a high level. That was a sign for me that this is a good opportunity."
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said Neal doesn’t play like a rookie.
"He's new to the league this year but he's not impressed or intimidated by anything," he said. "He just comes to play, he's hard-nosed."
Bobcats coach Larry Brown said he was surprised his team managed to stay in the game given their poor overall shooting.
"D.J., Jack and Gerald going nine of 39, I don't care who you're playing and you're going to have a tough time," he said. "To be in the game with us shooting it that way and turning it
over again, like we do, it's a miracle we had a chance."
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