| Barry Boosts Spurs to 128-119 Overtime Victory Authored by Elliot Cole - April 26, 2006 - 2:58 am
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Brent Barry’s 3-pointer with 4.0 seconds remaining capped off his best game wearing a Spurs uniform in a Game 2 victory over the resilient Sacramento Kings, who were playing without suspended forward Ron Artest. Without Artest, the Kings rallied around Bonzi Wells and second-year guard Kevin Martin, who scored 28 and 26, respectively.
San Antonio, looking overly lax in the first half, was carried by Manu Ginobili and Barry, who came off the bench to provide a big lift for the sluggish Spurs. Tony Parker and Tim Duncan struggled to get into the lane and the only thing Van Exel could hit all night was sideline reporter Jalen Rose’s head with a towel. Barry, who was often the lost man this season behind guards Manu Ginobili and Michael Finley, came out firing for the Spurs, finishing 8/12 from the field and 4/7 behind the line.
Barry’s early play got the Spurs rolling, but his most important hoop came off a baseline pass from Ginobili with the Spurs down by 106-109. Barry’s shot rolled around the rim and off the glass before finally dropping through, sending the game into overtime where Ginobili would take over.
After drawing a 6th foul on Wells late in regulation, Manu continued playing aggressively, scoring 8 points in the OT period. He carved up the Sacramento defense all night, finishing with 32 points. In overtime he also provided easy hoops to Parker and Rasho Nesterovic.
Gone to waste was a scrappy, hard-fought effort by the Kings, who relied on Wells’ ability to get to the rim against the smaller Spurs guards. Martin, in only his second playoff game, picked up the slack for Mike Bibby (3-16 shooting) in the backcourt. Late in the game, the Kings mounted a lead through Shareef Abdur-Rahim’s assertive play in the post against Tim Duncan, who was saddled with five fouls.
The game showed that the Kings wouldn’t go down easy, and the Spurs defense gave up a myriad of lay-ups and low-post shots. The Kings put their best effort on the floor, but the absence of Artest proved detrimental to a team that couldn’t stop Ginobili’s penetration in crucial moments of the game.
San Antonio escaped with a 128-119 win and took a 2-0 lead in the series, but game 3 will prove to be the most important. If the Kings come out with the fight that they did Tuesday night in game 2, they could very well take advantage of their home court and win a pivotal game 3. Even down 2-0, they have several things going their way. Artest will be back, and hungry. Bibby won’t shoot 3-16 again. Martin, Abdur-Rahim, and Wells will all have confidence going into Arco.
Unfortunately for the Kings, it seems that the Spurs always have an answer when push comes to shove (mostly shove in Artest’s case). Brent Barry and Manu Ginobili showed that the Spurs may just have too many weapons for the Kings.
The Spurs dodged a bullet, beating a team that made their defensive rotations seem slow at best. Nesterovic played better interior defense than starter Nazr Mohammed, and Duncan’s foul trouble kept him out for long stretches. Scoring 128 points is nice for the stat line, but for the Spurs to win game 3 they must keep the Kings in the 90-point range. That means rotating better, rebounding, and using Bruce Bowen to slow down Bibby anytime he gets hot.
At Arco, that may be easier said than done. But for now things seem to be bouncing the Spurs’ way.
Crunching the Numbers:
19: San Antonio’s starting backcourt of Parker and Ginobili combined for 19 assists. Sacramento had 15 as a team.
53.5: The Spurs are shooting 53.5% from three over the first two games (23-43).
13: The Kings outrebounded the Spurs by 13 after having a 19 rebound deficit to the Spurs in game 1.
30: It was Tim Duncan’s 30th birthday, and a number of fans sang to him in waning moments of overtime. |
