Tim Duncan goes down in San Antonio Spurs 111 – 96 win over the Golden State Warriors
On 22 March, Manu Ginobili dropped 28 points on the Golden State Warriors to lift the San Antonio Spurs to a 111-96 win in Texas at the AT & T Center.
Tim Duncan landed awkwardly and sprained his left ankle in the first five minutes and had to be taken to the locker-room for observation. He did not return. Initial x-ray
reports confirmed that there was no fracture.
Ginobili was worried about Duncan and said. "Hopefully, (Duncan's) injury is not too bad. But I saw him in pain, and he's not one of those guys who's going to pretend or
do that if he's not hurting. Hopefully, it's just a couple of games and he'll be back soon."
The NBA’s best team however did not miss Duncan much.
With Duncan out of the game, the Spurs retreated to the perimeter and shot a barrage of threes to wound the Warriors from the start. Tiago Splitter and Manu Ginobili were
in the groove early. The duo combined for 20 points in the first quarter as San Antonio powered to a 31 – 21 lead. The Warriors however responded right back with a 14 -2 run, that spanned the end of the first period and early minutes of the second, to graze
the Spurs lead to just five points.
Ginobili nipped the Warriors’ surge though and drained a three-pointer to end the second quarter on a high note for the Spurs. They led 54 – 45 at the halftime break.
San Antonio accelerated things in the third quarter. Richard Jefferson hit a three to extend the Spurs lead to 86 – 67 with half a minute left on the clock. The Warriors
failed to avail their scoring opportunities and turned the ball over 17 times, and went on to trail throughout the game.
The Spurs finished the game shooting 49.4 percent from the floor, after they had recorded more than 50 percent shooting for most of the night. The Spurs coach Gregg Popovich
put a balanced offense in place to allow everyone time on the court, to which they responded. San Antonio had 11 of its players on the scoreboard. Steve Novak was the surprise scorer for the Spurs as he went 5-for-6 from the field to put up 13 points off the
bench.
The last quarter was more closely contested as the Warriors tried to fight-back from a dismal first-quarter showing. They outscored San Antonio 27 – 25 in the final quarter.
With little over two minutes left in the game, Dorell Wright cut the San Antonio lead to 93 – 86 with a jumper.
But it was all, a little too late.
The Spurs immediately fired off a 7 – 0 spurt to cement the win.
Tiago Splitter pulled in 14 rebounds and scored 10 points for the Spurs, while Tony Parker dished out 15 assists and put up 17 points on the board.
The Warriors starting-five played well, as four of them scored in double figures. Ekpe Udoh led the way for Golden State with his 15 points, and Dorell Wright added 14.
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