Tag: In the News

KD’s 36 leads OKC’s victory, tops Friday’s S&Ds

Kevin Durant’s confidence never wavered.

Even as he misfired on his first five 3-pointers Friday night, Oklahoma City’s leading scorer was determined to keep shooting.

Durant hit a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 53 seconds left to give the Thunder the lead for good in a 101-94 victory over Memphis. 

It was part of a mammoth 36-point, 10-rebound effort for Durant, who scored the game’s final seven points to allow the Thunder to pull away for the victory.

“The 3s I was shooting looked good but I was missing,” Durant told the Associated Press. “It was just a matter of time before one was going to go down for me. I shot the ball right and it was able to go in.”

The Thunder trailed by 10 points late in the third quarter. Durant’s big finish enabled them to post a 32-17 edge in the fourth quarter as they claimed their sixth victory in their last seven games heading into their big matchup with the Spurs Saturday night.

And it also enabled him to lead Friday’s Studs and Duds.  

STUDS

Oklahoma City F Kevin Durant: Erupted for 36 points, 10 rebounds, three assists, three blocks, two steals and was a team-best plus-13 in the Thunder’s victory over Memphis.

Indiana F Paul George: Notched 30 points, nine rebounds, five assists, five steals and was plus-16 in the Pacers’ win at Dallas. 

Minnesota C Nikola Pekovic: Muscled for 27 points, 11 rebounds and was a team-best plus-11 in  the Timberwolves’ triumph at New Jersey.

Miami F LeBron James: Went for 19 points, 12 rebounds, eight assists, two blocks and was plus-19 in the Heat’s victory at Philadelphia.

New Jersey G Anthony Morrow: Notched 42 points, four rebounds, two assists and was plus-7 in the Nets’ loss to Minnesota.

DUDS

Cleveland G Mychel Thompson: Missed all six shots and was minus-16 in the Cavaliers’ loss at Orlando.

New Jersey G Deron Williams: Went 5 for 18 from the field with six turnovers and was a team-worst minus-10 in the Nets’ loss to Minnesota.

Boston G Rajon Rondo: Went 3 for 8 from the field with five turnovers and was a team-worst minus-8 in the Celtics’ victory over New York.

Denver F Danilo Gallinari: Clanked through a 1-for-9 shooting effort with a turnover and was minus-1 in the Nuggets’ loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Washington G Jordan Crawford: Struggled witha 4-for-13 shooting night with three turnovers and was a team-worst minus-17 in the Wizards’ loss at Toronto.

Parker gets All-Star nod, but not Duncan

By Jeff McDonald

NEW YORK — After 13 trips to the NBA All-Star Game, Spurs forward Tim Duncan has a pretty good idea of what an All-Star looks like.

In his mind, it looks a lot like Tony Parker.

“Easily,” Duncan said when asked if the Spurs point guard should make this year’s Western Conference squad. “There’s no doubt.”

Apparently, West coaches agreed.

When the NBA announced All-Star reserves Thursday night, Parker found his name on the list, an accomplishment that pushes him further into rarefied air in San Antonio.

The Feb. 26 game in Orlando, Fla., will mark Parker’s fourth All-Star appearance, making him one of only four Spurs players all-time to boast at least that many. Two of them (David Robinson and George Gervin) are in the Naismith Hall of Fame. The other (Duncan) one day will be.

“It will be a great reward for my team and the whole Spurs organization,” Parker said.

This time, however, Parker will be going alone.

Until now a death-and-taxes-style lock for the All-Star Game, Duncan was left off the West squad for the first time in his career.

His omission not only snaps a string of 13 consecutive All-Star appearances, it ends a streak of consecutive starts (12) that was the second-longest in NBA history. Only Boston great Bob Cousy (13) enjoyed a longer one.

Though Duncan’s numbers — 13.9 points and 8.3 rebounds in 27.6 minutes — are similar to last year’s, he appears to have been outpolled by Memphis’ Marc Gasol for the final big man spot.

By rule, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich could not vote for his own players while casting a ballot for the reserves, but offered Parker a heavy endorsement in recent weeks.

“Tony’s played All-Star basketball all year long,” Popovich said.

With star guard Manu Ginobili out with a broken hand since Jan. 2, Parker has lifted his game — and lifted the Spurs to the second-best record in the West (19-8).

Heading into Saturday’s game at New Jersey, Parker is averaging 18.9 points and a career-best 7.7 assists. Since the beginning of January, when Ginobili was hurt, he’s averaging 19.8 points and 7.9 assists.

Parker’s inclusion on the West team gives the Spurs a representative in 14 consecutive All-Star games. In Orlando, he will join a backcourt that includes starters Chris Paul (L.A. Clippers) and Kobe Bryant (L.A. Lakers) and reserves Steve Nash (Phoenix) and Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City).

“We’ve needed Tony to be a scorer the whole time Manu’s been out,” Popovich said. “He scores, he assists, he’s been leading us out there. He’s been really special.”

Barring a setback, Ginobili is due back Saturday in New Jersey. Because of Parker, the Spurs were not only able to survive Ginobili’s absence, but thrive.

The Southwest Division-leading Spurs will carry an NBA-best six-game winning streak into New Jersey.

In the past 2 1/2 weeks, Parker turned in the top assist game of his career (17 at New Orleans) and two of his top-10 scoring nights (42 against Oklahoma City, 37 at Philadelphia).

The All-Star honor is one Parker openly courted and coveted in the past few weeks. He missed participating in last year’s game in Los Angeles, when Duncan and Ginobili played and Popovich and his staff coached.

“It would be great to go back,” Parker said a day before the announcement. “It would be nice after what happened last year. Everybody went, and I wanted to go.”

In the end, the Western Conference coaches gave Parker his golden ticket to Orlando. It will be a lonely trip, but a well-deserved one.

jmcdonald@express-news.net

Game rewind: These aren’t the same ol’ T-Wolves are they?

Remember the days when the Minnesota Timberwolves  were a frolic  in the park for the Spurs?

The Spurs came into the season with a 16-game winning streak over the once-moribund Timberwolves. David Robinson and Tony Parker took turns in setting the Target Center’s scoring record. Minnesota seemed to quake at the very mention of Silver and Black in previous seasons.

The arrival of veteran coach Rick Adelman and mercurial rookie point guard Ricky Rubio seems to have changed all that. Minnesota notched another impressive victory Friday with an 87-79 triumph over the Spurs — the second in the first 32 days of the season after they had not beaten San Antonio for a period of 1,725 days.

It’s Minnesota’s ninth victory of the season. The Timberwolves have beaten Dallas twice, San Antonio twice and notched  a road victory at the Los Angeles Clippers in their highlights so far this season.

Considering that the franchise had averaged 16 victories in their last two seasons and had lost at least 50 games in each of their last five years, it’s a big step of progress.

If you don’t believe it, just ask Gregg Popovich and the Spurs how far the Timberwolves have come.

Game analysis: The Timberwolves mashed the ball inside and came up with a strong defensive effort down the stretch to continue the Spurs’ road woes, limiting the Spurs to one field goal over the final seven minutes.

Where the game was won: After Gary Neal drilled a 3-pointer that gave the Spurs a 79-77 with 3:33 left, the Spurs would not score again as Minnesota put the game away with a 10-0 run. The Spurs missed their final seven shots as Rubio tied the game with two foul shots, but Minnesota ahead with a pullup jumper and then hit Kevin Love for a layup that helped ice the victory.  

Bring on the bench: The Spurs’ bench had a second straight strong game, outscoring Minnesota’s bench 38-27. Matt Bonner (13 points, three 3-pointers) and Tiago Splitter (12 points, seven rebounds, three assists) were instrumental in providing big efforts again Friday night. 

Player of the game I: Rubio is showing some strong development as he orchestrates Minnesota’s defense. He matched his career high with 18 points and added 10 assists — his eighth double-double this season and third in his last four games. And after hitting only 6 of 26 shots in his last two games, he rebounded to produce 7 of 12 from the field against the Spurs, including nine points in the fourth quarter.

Player of the game II:Love started slowly as he scored  only six points on 1-for-5 shooting in the first half. But he bounced back to become a force in the second half and finished with 18 points and 16 rebounds.

Player of the game III:  Parker led the Spurs with 20 points, three rebounds and three assists.  It marked his ninth 20-point game this season and eighth game with at least 20 points since Manu Ginobili was injured.

Most unsung: The Spurs had no answer for massive 290-pound Nikola Pekovic, who started in place of Darko Milicic. Pekovic clogged up the middle as he scored 14 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, including six offensive rebounds.

Did you notice: After starting the game with 10 points in the first quarter, Richard Jefferson failed to score during the rest of the game.

Did you notice II: Of San Antonio’s final missed seven shots, five different players accounted for the misses. 

Did you notice III: A game after piling up a season-high 29 assists against Atlanta, the Spurs produced only 17 against the Timberwolves. It was their lowest total since their loss at Houston on Dec. 29.

Stat of the game: The Spurs were limited to 79 points in the loss — lowest total since a 77-71 loss at Philadelphia last Feb. 11.

Stat of the game II : After entering the fourth quarter tied at 64, the Spurs proceded to shoot 27.8 percent from the field in the fourth quarter. It was their lowest in a fourth quarter this season.

Stat of the game III: Thanks to strong performances from Love and Pekovic, the Timberwolves had a 50-26 edge in points in the paint and an 8-4 edge in second-chance points. The minus-24 differential in the paint was the largest single-game deficit of the season for the Spurs.

Weird stat of the game: The Spurs grabbed only two offensive rebounds in the game. It ranks as one of their three lowest single-game offensive rebounding games since 1985-86. It was their fewest offensive rebounds in a game since grabbing no offensive rebounds in a victory over Utah on Jan. 23, 2002.

Weird stat of the game II: The Spurs blocked eight shots, compared to one by Minnesota. In the previous three games, the Spurs blocked six shots and had 24 shots rejected.

Best plus/minus scores: DeJuan Blair was plus-3, Bonner was plus-2 and Parker was plus-1.

Worst plus/minus scores: Splitter was minus-16, Jefferson was minus-10 and Cory Joseph was minus-9.

Quote of the game: “This city is ready to explode. You can feel it,” Love, to the Associated Press about the excitement about surrounding the Timberwolves.

How the schedule stacks up: The Spurs have the day off  before traveling to Dallas on Sunday and Monday in Memphis. Minnesota hosts the Lakers on Sunday and will travel to Houston on Monday.

Injuries: Ginobili missed his 15th game (Spurs record 9-6) after undergoing surgery for a fractured fifth left metacarpal.  T.J. Ford missed his 10th game (Spurs record 6-4) with a torn left hamstring. Minnesota starting center  Milicic missed the game with flu-like symptoms. Guard J.J. Barea (sprained left ankle), guard Malcolm Lee (knee surgery) and Brad Miller (microfracture knee surgery) all missed Friday’s game.