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Well, that was far more stressful than I had anticipated. In a game that Gregg Popovich described as an “ugly win,” the Spurs defeated the Pacers on a go-ahead dunk from Tim Duncan with four seconds left.

After an excellent 1st quarter that ended with a Matt Bonner and Manu Ginobili led run, the team fell flat for the middle stretch of the game. The Spurs scored only 40 points in the second and third quarters combined but allowed the Pacers to score a gaudy 62 over that same period. 38 of those 62 came in the third.

The Spurs second quarter struggles seemed to stem from the absence of Matt Bonner, who left the game in between the first and second with a broken bone in his right hand. It’s hard to say he was the definitive cause of their drought; even on his best days he is a secondary offensive figure. But the spacing and spark he provided in the first was sorely needed at the close of the second, as the Spurs failed to score for the final three and a half minutes of the first half.

That’s not to say the Spurs didn’t have chances to score. They missed four free throws during that span. I’m sad to report that those would hardly be our last unproductive trips to the charity stripe.

The third quarter was arguably one of the worst the team has played all season. As I already mentioned, we allowed the Pacers to score 38 points during the second half’s opening 12 minutes. Although a significant amount of those points were scored on botched rotations and by unmarked cutters, I will give the Pacers credit where credit is due- many were tough, well-defended shots taken late in the shot clock that went through the rim nonetheless.

The defining moment of the third came when Duncan picked up his fourth foul with around 5 minutes left in the quarter. Without his presence the Pacers were able to shift into another gear, scoring 21 points during the remainder of the period.

On the other end of the floor the Spurs were doing a respectable job creating contact and earning free throw attempts. But those trips don’t mean much if you don’t make your free throws, which the Spurs did not. San Antonio missed 5 of 10 from the line in the third.

If it hadn’t been for the inspired play of Keith Bogans, the Spurs would have been in even worse shape headed into the fourth. He had 9 points during the quarter (almost half of our collective 20). After the game I spoke with Bogans, who approached his contributions with the humility befitting a Spur.

“I’m just playing basketball,” said Bogans. “My job is to defend. If I see something out there on offense I’ll take it, but I’m not out there to force the issue or be an offensive threat.”

Well, I’m glad that he did take what he saw in the third; had he not the Spurs may have faced a deficit too large to overcome.

In the fourth quarter the Spurs were a whole new team. They looked salty, aggravated and unwilling to let a winnable game slip out of their fingers. They rediscovered their defensive intensity, as well as their hot hand. But after crawling back, they were unable to put the game away until the final play.

After the game, Duncan spoke about his game winning dunk.

“It was very similar to what we did in Utah,” said Duncan. “I gave up the ball in Utah and I didn’t want to give it up tonight. I wanted to take it to the glass and see what happened. Roy Hibbert made a very good defensive play, I saw the guy come from the corner and tried to stretch it out and it just came right back to me. It was a little bit of luck- we’ll take it.”

Although the tone of the post-game locker room was hardly boisterous, Duncan’s dunk was a point of humor. Richard Jefferson joked that he was impressed that a “46-year-old” could get up that high, while Duncan claimed he hadn’t made a game-winning dunk since the ’64-65 season.