Ginobili initiates a stand for Spurs
Web Posted: 01/08/2007 12:21 AM CST
Johnny Ludden
Express-News
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — When the Spurs awoke Sunday morning, the Dallas Mavericks weren’t the only team perched above them in the Western Conference. So were the Phoenix Suns and Utah Jazz.
“We are now almost in the fifth position,” Manu Ginobili said. “Even if we don’t care about the fifth position right now, we’re not used to seeing ourselves there.”
Apparently, one look at the NBA standings was all the motivation Ginobili needed to slow the Spurs’ slide. His season-high 34 points carried them to a 110-96 victory over the Memphis Grizzlies at FedExForum, ending the team’s losing streak at three games.
With Tony Parker sidelined by a right hip strain and Tim Duncan blanketed by Memphis’ zone, Ginobili assumed greater control of the offense, making a career-high six 3-pointers. He added four rebounds, three assists and a season-high five steals during his 27 minutes.
Ginobili’s point total, which came on only 15 shots, was his highest since he had 39 in Game 5 of the Spurs’ 2005 first-round series against Seattle.
“I think he’s definitely getting back to the form he had two years ago when he was an All-Star,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “His body’s feeling good, and he has a pretty good rhythm. Hopefully, that will just continue for him.”
Ginobili wasn’t the only player to settle into a rhythm. Robert Horry scored 18 points, his most in a regular-season game for the Spurs, while making three of the team’s season-high 14 3-pointers.
“Two good games out of 35 so far this year,” Horry said. “So it was about time I had a decent game.”
Horry was shooting a career-worst 34.3 percent entering Sunday, having scored no more than 10 points in a game this season. The coaching staff has debated whether to give more of his minutes to Matt Bonner, but instead opted to bring Horry off the bench for the first time in six games and startFabricio Oberto.
As soon as Popovich sent Bonner to the scorer’s table early in the second, Horry buried a turnaround jumper. He followed with consecutive 3-pointers.
Horry said he didn’t see Bonner waiting to check in for him. But he did know who was watching from the stands: His mother — along with his brother, his aunt and his brother’s family — who drove from Alabama to see him play.
“We’re going to take her on our flights the rest of the season,” Popovich said.
Horry buried his third 3-pointer late in the third quarter then drove for a layup on the next possession, hiking the Spurs’ lead to 86-72. Memphis never got closer than 10 in the fourth.
“They just play good team basketball,” Grizzlies guard Chucky Atkins said. “They are a very unselfish team, a team you want to pattern yourself after.”
Memphis, meanwhile, is in a state of transition. The Grizzlies fired coach Mike Fratello on Dec. 28 and replaced him with Tony Barone, the team’s director of player personnel.
Barone, a former Texas A&M coach, junked Fratello’s methodical, yet disciplined, offense for a more crowd-friendly, run-run-run system. The Grizzlies entered Sunday averaging 120.5 points in four games under Barone, which was enough for one fan to proudly display a homemade “Barone Ball” sign throughout the game.
So far, however, Barone Ball doesn’t include much defense. The Grizzlies used a zone to limit Duncan to a season-low 10 points on 5-of-13 shooting, but were unable or unwilling to close out on the Spurs’ shooters.
Michael Finley had 12 points and a season-high seven rebounds. Bruce Bowen made two 3-pointers — his first two since the league switched back to the leather ball — while helping hold Mike Miller to 14 points, less than half what he averaged the previous four games.
“As many possessions as there were in the game,” Popovich said, “I thought that was a pretty good (defensive) effort on our part.”
For the first time in four games, that effort translated into a victory. On Tuesday, the Spurs blew an eight-point lead early in the fourth to lose in Cleveland. One night later in Minnesota, they rallied from 17 down only to lose in overtime.
The toughest loss came Friday when Dallas overtook them after trailing by 11 at the half.
“We couldn’t allow ourselves to get another loss,” Ginobili said. “Three in a row is already too much.”