Spurs 113, Nuggets 112. Manu. Flipin. Ginobili.
First Manu hits an acrobatic four-footer — twisting, splitting the double team and kiss it off the glass with English — to give the Spurs a one-point lead with 4.2 seconds left. Then on the other end he makes a perfectly-timed double team — not moving until Carmelo Anthony put his head down then beating him to the spot — to draw the charge on what would have been the Nuggets game winner.
Denver fans, don’t blame the refs for this one, you were fortunate to have the lead at all — remember it was a too-hot in-bound pass from Antonio McDyess to Ginobili which bounced straight to Anthony that gave you the lead in the first place. Then there was the three missed free throws down the stretch, Nene missed a few chippies before fouling out, Arron Afflalo had been hot all night but missed a wide-open look near the end, there was the missed opportunity to foul Tim Duncan. You had your chances before the final call — and that call was the right one anyway.
Tim Duncan had 28 points and 16 boards. Credit the Spurs — the road back-to-back with Denver on the second night (where you are playing at altitude) is one of the toughest in the NBA and they won anyway. This team is legit.
Celtics 102, Hawks 90: This was close for a half in what was a battle of depth — the Hawks were without Joe Johnson and Jamal Crawford, the Celtics were without Rajon Rondo and Shaquille O’Neal.
In the end, the discipline of the Celtics to stay with the plan was much better than that of the Hawks. The Celtics had balance. Six Celtics scored in double figures — none with more than 18 — and they shot 53 percent as a team. That is depth. More depth than the Hawks have.
Great game from Jeff Teague off the bench for Atlanta, scoring 18 points on 8 of 11 shooting. How come he doesn’t play like that every night?
Nets 97, Wizards 89: Would the real Washington Wizards please stand up. Please stand up. Was it the disaster of a team from the first half? Or maybe the team that made a game of it until a late 7-0 Nets run sealed it?
Washington’s interior defense remains Nerf soft, but they expanded their flaws to so many new areas in the first half. For example, the Nets are dead last in the league at forcing turnovers — only 13.2 percent of opponent possessions end in a turnover. In the first half the Wizards better than doubled that to 26.5 (13 total turnovers). The Wizards shot 30 percent for the first half and missed all their threes, then they shot 48 percent for the second half and made a real game of it. The defense got better (not good, just less bad). Wasn’t enough.
Good on the Nets for taking advantage of how bad the Wizards are. I guess. It’s a win, so Avery Johnson will take it.