Parker shines as bright as new Championship Rings

Tony Parker hit the go ahead three pointer with a minute seven remaining in the game, but Parker was hitting from all over the floor on this night.   Parker was 9-15 from the field and 4-4 from the three point line and led the Spurs in scoring with 23 points in nearly 35 minutes of playing time.  The Mavericks Monta Ellis led all scorers with 26 points in a 101-100 Spurs thriller.

“It was a great basketball game, you can’t kick off the season with a better game than this for the fans — there’s no way,” Dallas coach Rick Carlisle said. “Unfortunately, the slim margins of winning and losing are all that anybody remembers. If we get one more stop one more basket than we’re all him here singing a different tune. That’s the world we live in the Western Conference.”

The Spurs began the night with the unveiling of the 2014 Championship Banner and Rings and ended with their 5th opening season victory in a row following a championship.

“It’s special,” Ginobili said. “I think it helps you actually. Sometimes you don’t play that sharp because it’s the first game of the season. You have to move from the success of the previous season to the new beginning. But it all gets your emotions up so you want to get out on the court and do a lot of things, hustle, jump, run and win.”

With the victory, Head Coach Gregg Popovich is now 17-1 in season opening games and leads all coaches in NBA history with that mark.

The Spurs hit the road and face the Phoenix Suns on Friday.  Plenty of great seats and cheap tickets still remain so be sure to get yours now!

 

Spurs blast Mavericks out of the playoffs

It was something that most fans and pundits expected before game seven.  That is, a blowout.  The San Antonio Spurs took full advantage of their home court, pounding the Dallas Mavericks into submission and out of the playoffs with a 96-119 victory.

Mavericks Coach Rick Carlisle praised the Spurs after the fight.

“We got hit by a tidal wave early,” Carlisle said in the post conference. “They had their best game today. They’re the best of the best, and they’ve been great for a long time. They’ve got a great chance, obviously.”

Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich readily agrees.

“I’m certainly glad it’s over,” Popovich said in the post conference. “(It) kept many of us up, night after night, trying to figure them out. We’re thrilled, and I think our best game was tonight. We played very, very well, and I think it was one our best games of the year.”

The Spurs next face the Portland Trailblazers in the Western Conference Semi-finals.  The Trailblazers closed out the Houston Rockets in six games and none more exciting than the buzzer-beater shot by Damian Lillard to end the series, the first time since 1997 where John Stockton of the Utah Jazz did the exact same thing to the Rockets.

“It was a hell of a win,” Portland Coach Terry Stotts said after the game. “I don’t know that it could have been any more dramatic.”

Great seats are still available for Round Two of the Western Conference Semi-finals. Be sure to get yours now!

Spurs take Game Four

The San Antonio Spurs came into game four knowing that they needed a much better performance than what they put on Sunday afternoon.   They did just that,  coming out and quickly putting the Mavericks in a 20-point deficit. In the end, the Spurs walked out of American Airlines Center with a 93-89 victory.

The Mavericks battled back and at one point in the game was tied at 87 apiece.  The Spurs then ran a simple pick and roll play with Tony Parker being trailed by Devin Harris.  Nowitzki, who was in foul trouble most of the fourth quarter, was playing a bit too soft and the defensive exchange did not happen in time giving Boris Diaw time to float to the top of the key the go-ahead 3-pointer.

“It was just a regular pick-and-roll,” Diaw said. “We try to put Dirk Nowitzki in pick-and-roll because it’s harder for him than for [Samuel] Dalembert, for example, to switch on Tony. It’s harder for Dirk to be able to help and come back to the player that set the screen. That’s why I was the one on the pick-and-roll. That’s exactly what happened. He helped on Tony and he was a little late and I was wide open for the three.”

Before the game, both the Spurs and the Mavericks showed solidarity to the Clippers organization and protested the Clippers owner by wearing black socks.

“My understanding is that the whole league is doing it,” Mavericks coach Rick Carlisle said. “The fact that they’re together and doing it to basically say that this is not right, is something I respect.”

“We’re going to do the same thing that Houston and Portland did,” Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich said before the game.  “Both teams are going to wear the black socks. Rick (Carlisle) and I talked and we’re both going to wear them in support.”

Tickets for GAME FIVE are still available so be sure to get yours now and support your San Antonio Spurs