| Not Even Close In Sacramento Authored by Steve Crawford - January 24, 2005 - 12:48 pm
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The Spurs went into Arco Arena on Sunday night without their usual starting center, and without one of their reserve big men. They didn’t need them. At times, it looked like they didn’t even need five players on the court.
From the opening tip, the Spurs ran circles around the Sacramento Kings, cruising to a 103-73 win. Tim Duncan, rounding back into MVP form with 23 points and 13 rebounds, was encouraged by the team’s effort. “It’s just a regular season game, but it’s encouraging to do this against a team that scores like Sacramento. We just played our game,” said Duncan.
The Spurs had no trouble finding offense, putting all five starters in double figures, but it was their trademark defense that made the difference. Tony Massenburg, in his first start of the season for the injured Rasho Nesterovic, scored 16 points and played solid defense against one of his many former teams. “We concentrate a lot on defense,” Massenburg said. “We work on it. This team has won championships, so obviously they know what it takes to get it done.”
Kings coach Rick Adelman didn’t recognize his usually high-scoring team. “We did nothing. We played like we didn’t trust each other. We had eight assists, and 17 turnovers. I can’t remember when we’ve done that before,” said Adelman.
San Antonio took a 16-point lead at the end of the first quarter, and did not let the Kings get any closer. In the second half, the Spurs extended their lead, perhaps aided by Sacramento’s loss of Chris Webber. Webber sprained his ankle in the second quarter, and did not play at all in the second half.
With Webber out, nobody on Sacramento was able to pick up the slack. Peja Stojakovic, blanketed by Bruce Bowen all night long, finished with 8 points on 3-12 shooting. The rest of the team didn’t fare much better. Mike Bibby finished with 13 points, but didn’t pick up a single assist.
“They know how to take advantage of your weaknesses, especially on defense. They controlled the game,” Stojakovic said. “It was a really bad loss, but the Spurs are a great team.”
Tony Parker added 13 points and eight assists for the Spurs, who have won four in a row.
Sacramento and San Antonio meet again on January 27th in San Antonio.
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