Loading ...Ginobili Slaps 43 On Orlando
Manu Ginobili continued his spectacular play since being inserted back into the starting unit by dropping 43 points in a 112-100 win over the Orlando Magic last night. He was 13-of-25 from the field, including 3-of-6 from downtown, and he went 14-of-17 from the free throw line. He also had six rebounds, five assists, and one steal. No one had a double-double for either team but Tim Duncan came closest with his 23 points and eight rebounds. George Hill had nine points and nine assists, Matt Bonner came off the bench to score 15 points with his six rebounds, and Antonio McDyess finally had a decent game again with 10 points and seven boards.
The Magic had six players in double figures, but Dwight Howard had an off night with only 10 points and six rebounds. Howard was basically outplayed by McDyess after Duncan got into early foul trouble and Coach Popovich got ejected for arguing with the refs. Go figure. The biggest discrepancy in the game really came at the free throw line where the Spurs shot 20-of-26 compared to 12-of-26 for the Magic. Of course this came partially due to the Hack-a-Howard strategy which Dwight seemed to take exception to (“waaaa!”). Orlando also had 11 turnovers to the Spurs’ eight.
I’ve been saying it for a couple of months and it just keeps getting more and more obvious with each game, but it’s imperative that the Spurs resign Manu Ginobili this summer. It’s a shame they didn’t extend him earlier this year since they will likely be paying more than they would have to retain him. However, it’s not really too late is it? Kobe Bryant just signed a 3-year extension for $90 million, and don’t think Ginobili isn’t aware. The Spurs need to get on this so they focus on other things this summer.
Highlights from the game:
[youtube 7cMqx8_uNsM]
On the one hand, it’s hard to get too excited about beating a Lakers team playing without Pau Gasol and only 3/4 of Kobe. On the other hand, it’s always nice to pummel the Lakers, even if it means kicking them while they’re down. The Spurs dismantled the remnants of the reigning champs 105-85 in San Antonio making them 11-10 against Western Conference foes. It was also nice to beat a team that is above .500 for a change. That makes the Spurs 5-11 in that category. For once, the Spurs committed fewer turnovers than their opponents – only 10 to LA’s 14. The Spurs shot 57.3% from the field, but were a horrific 4-of-11 from the free throw line. Good thing this game wasn’t closer. The Spurs are now 1.5 games behind Dallas in the Southwest Division and five games behind the Lakers.
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