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San Antonio Spurs 94, Cleveland Cavaliers 92
Cleveland, OH Feb. 28 / Wire Reports --
There was nothing flashy about the play or the shot. It was basic, fundamental basketball. Old school.
Just the way Tim Duncan likes it.
Duncan made a wide-open 19-foot jumper just before the final horn sounded, giving the San Antonio Spurs a 94-92 victory
Monday night over the Cleveland Cavaliers, who dropped their third straight.
Duncan's big shot concluded a night that started miserably for the All-Star forward. He missed his first seven shots and
didn't score in the first 19 minutes. But with the game on the line, Duncan took a pass from Tony Parker, gathered himself
and calmly knocked down his game-winner without a hand in his face.
"I had that shot all game, and Tony made a great move to draw both defenders," Duncan said. "I actually thought he was going
to shoot it. He held it there for so long in the air, I thought he had a great look at it. He threw it off late, and I
had enough time to gather myself and take the shot comfortably.
"We've run that play a billion times. I think Pop realized they would stay with Tony. There's nothing like being prepared
for something before it happens. I wasn't going to rush the shot."
After going 0-for-7, Duncan went 9-for-10 from the floor, finishing with 20 points and 11 rebounds.
"(Tim) rebounded and competed, and with all the foul trouble, people are usually taken out of games, and you never get back
in the flow," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. "That's why he's such a great player."
Parker added 19 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists -- none bigger than his short pass to Duncan after drawing Cavs center
Zydrunas Ilgauskas on a pick-and-roll.
``I couldn't make anything early,'' said Duncan, who went 9-for-28 in a loss at Cleveland last season. ``I had some good
shots and good looks, but nothing was going down for me. I was just going to stay with it.''
During his final timeout, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich set up the play with Duncan as the first option. As it turned
out, there was no need to go over any others.
``Tony ran it perfectly,'' Popovich said. ``He was to look first to Tim, then if he wasn't open drive to the middle and
either take it to the rim and try to create or find (Brent) Barry in the corner.''
Ilgauskas had 26 points and LeBron James finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Cavaliers, who
have lost four of five and are entering a tough stretch of upcoming games.
San Antonio's Manu Ginobli, who finished with 17 points, could have put the Spurs up by four points, but missed a pair of
free throws with 19.2 seconds to go.
The Cavaliers called timeout and after an inbounds play, Spurs center Rasho Nesterovic left Ilgauskas wide open underneath.
James whipped a pass to Cleveland's big man, whose dunk tied it 92-92 with 14.2 seconds remaining.
``We had two guys on LeBron because they were scared to death of him and rightfully so,'' Popovich said. ``It was a
mistake.''
The Spurs still had more than enough time to give their star a chance to win it.
With Duncan setting a pick near the top of the key on Jeff McInnis, Parker dribbled to the right side and when Ilgauskas
drifted over, Parker passed the ball back to Duncan with more than 2 seconds left.
``It was a perfect pick and roll,'' Ginobli said.
Cleveland's defense was late rotating toward Duncan, who had time to set his feet, measure the distance and drill it. San
Antonio's bench erupted onto the Gund Arena floor and swarmed Duncan.
``I thought I was one-on-one with Parker and didn't even see the screen,'' McInnis said. ``He kind of blindsided me. But he
still had to make the shot, and he did.''
The shot silenced the crowd of 18,216, and was a fitting ending to Gordon Gund's ownership of the Cavaliers.
On Tuesday, the team will officially be turned over to Detroit mortgage magnate Dan Gilbert, who paid $375 million for the
NBA franchise. Gund, who bought the Cavs for $20 million in 1983, will remain a minority owner.
During his 22 seasons with the Cavaliers, Gund's teams were beaten by some big shots, most notably Michael Jordan's
buzzer-beater in the 1989 Eastern Conference finals for the Chicago Bulls.
``We were able to take them down to the wire,'' James said. ``That was a great effort for us.''
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