With Tony Parker struggling, and Tim Duncan no longer the scoring machine he used to be, the San Antonio Spurs turned to another old staple to carry them through on Monday night.
Manu Ginobili may no longer have the lift he used to but, with his herky-jerky movement and signature euro-step, he’s still nigh-impossible to defend when going toward the basket. In Game 4, the 36-year-old busted out his full bag of tricks en route to a 7-for-14 shooting night for 23 points and five assists in just 28 minutes of floor time.
Ginobili was the sparkplug the Spurs needed in the second quarter after an extremely lackluster first, but it wasn’t the first time his impact was felt in the series—the Spurs are plus-five per 100 possessions with the Argentine veteran on the floor as opposed to minus-19 with him on the bench.
In Game 4 alone, San Antonio was plus-11 and shot 54.5 percent with him on the floor as opposed to minus-seven and 34.3 percent without him.
As big of an impact as Ginobili had in Game 4, however, most of his damage came in the first half. It was Boris Diaw who came off the bench to play hero in quarters three and four.
Diaw scored 11 of his 17 points in the second half, with all 11 coming with the Dallas Mavericks surging. The versatile Frenchman nailed a go-ahead triple at the top of the key with 32 seconds left to put the Spurs up for good, after a thrilling back-and-forth exchange between the two clubs.
Perhaps even bigger than that shot, however, was the defence Diaw played on Mavericks superstar Dirk Nowitzki, holding the surefire hall of famer to 19 points on 19 shots.
Here’s more on that great Spurs-Mavs game as well as other observations from Monday night:
Another great comeback falls short
Just like the Toronto Raptors, Oklahoma City Thunder and Golden State Warriors in Game 3 of their respective series, the Mavs cut a massive deficit down to come that close to pulling off an incredible comeback win Monday night.
With 8:30 to go in the third quarter and Dallas down 20, Monta Ellis drilled a triple that ended up snowballing into a 16-2 run, cutting the Spurs’ lead to eight.
Following that run, the Mavs strung a second together between the third and fourth quarters to pull within four.
Momentum was with the Mavs but it all came to halt due to the controversial ejection of DeJuan Blair, who appeared to kick Spurs centre Tiago Splitter in the head after both men got tangled up and fell to the floor.
Blair was instrumental in Dallas’s comeback bid, scoring six points in the fourth quarter including a go-ahead bucket with 4:50 to play.
Though Ellis did his best to will his team to victory in the dying moments (including a potential game-tying layup that just lipped out with three seconds to play), the Mavs never seemed to recover after the ejection.
Pacers with a long-term problem
The Indiana Pacers were down as much as 30 in their Game 5 debacle with the Atlanta Hawks on Monday night, and the home crowd rightfully gave it to them. Looking at the contracts on the books in Indiana, those fans could be booing for a long time to come.
Four of the Pacers’ starting five are locked down for at least next season, with two players signed until at least 2015.
George Hill is under contract until 2017 with no special options, David West has a $12.6-million player option for 2016 and Roy Hibbert will be getting paid $15 million a year for the next two seasons if he decides to exercise his player option for the 2016 season.
Just about the only player locked up long-term who currently seems worth the investment is Paul George, who will remain a Pacer at least until the 2018 season.
Great fan buzz
Next season Charlotte’s NBA team will (thankfully) get back the Hornets nickname. Judging by the way their fans cheered on their clearly over-matched team in Game 4, Time Warner Cable Arena will be positively buzzing.
Understanding the level that the Bobcats overachieved this season and acknowledging that their team wasn’t going to comeback against the two-time defending champion Miami Heat, Charlotte fans were still vocal in their support, right up to the final horn.
Passionate, genuine fandom is always a nice thing to see.
Will the Heat cool off while waiting?
Following their sweep of the Bobcats, the Miami Heat now have a lot of time to study film, come up with scouting reports and rest as the Raptors and Brooklyn Nets continue to go to war.
Extra time to recover will greatly help the likes of Dwyane Wade, who looked like the “Flash” of old for spurts in the Bobcats series and will need to keep that up as the Heat go deeper into the postseason.
However, the one danger facing the Heat is the fact that they appear to be clicking right now. Halting a locomotive just as its picking up steam always risks doing some damage.
Miami leads all playoff teams with a plus-10.1 net rating, 58.2 percent true shooting percentage and 53.9 percent effective field-goal percentage. The Heat’s offence has put up 109.8 points per 100 possessions, just behind the fire-starter Trail Blazers, Rockets and Clippers, and have held opponents to 99.6 points per 100 possessions, just behind the mud-wrestling Thunder and Grizzlies.
LeBron James has been outrageous, shooting 55.7 percent from the field to average 30 points per game, as well as eight rebounds and six assists for a playoff-leading PER of 33.2 and a player impact estimate of 23.6 percent.
In other words, James and the Heat are rolling and while it is important that Wade be as close to 100 percent for the next series as possible, if you’re a Miami fan, you don’t want to see the Heat suddenly cool off.