Without Manu Ginobili, Spurs in search of “the moment”
AT&T Center-The home crowd stood at its tipping point early in the third quarter, ready to erupt in a burst of pent up energy. Tim Duncan, the San Antonio Spurs stoic leader, had just scored after picking up a well-deserved technical in a rare display of fiery emotion and the entirety of the AT&T Center was feeding off it.
Basketball is a beautiful sport in that each game has its own unique ebb and flow to it, and those that can tap into its rhythmic cadence can seize a moment and elevate his team. Few players in the NBA have their finger on the pulse of such moments like Manu Ginobili.
Had he two healthy hands, Ginobili likely would have followed Duncan’s outburst by finding him for a dunk, if not pulling up for a quick three-pointer himself. Instead, with the crowd surging, Tony Parker and James Anderson lined up back-to-back open jumpers and served a reminder that Manu Ginobili is hard to replace. Moment over.
Through three quarters the Spurs made several runs, each presenting a big shot moment the Spurs ultimately missed.
“We weren’t making the shots that we needed,” Spurs swing man Danny Green said. “In the big moments we had open shots that fell out, the Manu shots.
“But when we can’t make those shots we have to do it on the defensive end and I think we did a great job of that tonight.”
Green is one of several players, along with Anderson and Gary Neal, that will try and hold the fort down while Manu Ginobili recovers from a broken hand. And while defense can remain a constant through effort, attention to detail, and Tim Duncan, the Spurs will have to learn to take over those decisive moments without their All-Star shooting guard.
Thanks to Danny Green and an unlikely cast of heroes, the Spurs had enough against the Golden State Warriors.
“It was good for our confidence, we’re going to play a long time without Manu,” Tony Parker said. “In a schedule like this, you have to win games at home. It was a big one for us and now we have a big one [Thursday].”
Parker has had his share of big moments, but they do not always come natural to him. At times the Spurs point guard has had to be pressed and prodded by Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich, as he did emphatically in the fourth quarter. Following a Duncan missed bank shot Popovich yelled at his star point guard for a lack of aggressiveness.
Parker responded with one of his trademark floaters and 10 of his 21 points in the last four minutes of the game.
“Everybody needs to be aggressive and in attack mode all the time, Tony’s no different,” Popovich said. “He’s a great player and when he’s in attack mode, he’s an even better player.”
In attack mode most of the night was backup point guard T.J. Ford (nine points, eight assists), the designated Ginobili-by-committee for the night. Ford was perfectly in tune with whatever the Spurs needed at that particular moment, and he seized the opportunity. How else can you explain a career 29 percent three-point shooter pulling up for one off his dribble with confidence in a key moment?
And when Ford paired with Green on a fourth quarter alley-oop to cut the Warriors lead to two the Spurs were primed for another big shot opportunity. When Duncan-who once seized such moments before his deteriorated knees limited him to merely a caretaker of them-missed the shot Popovich screamed at Parker to take, the Spurs were set to fall short again.
Warriors guard Monta Ellis, who peppered the Spurs to the tune of 38 points and seven assists, got a step on Danny Green the Spurs appeared in trouble. But as he did for most of the fourth quarter, Green shadowed without fouling, managing to block Ellis from behind much to the crowd’s delight.
On the next play Green drove baseline and found Richard Jefferson in the opposite corner. The shot went up, the crowd exploded. Carpe diem. The Spurs never trailed again. Moment seized.
