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Spurs blow past SuperSonics 103-90
Manu Ginobili and Nazr Mohammed made sure the San Antonio Spurs didn't have to sweat it out in the closing seconds of this Game 5. Ginobili celebrated his return to the starting lineup with a career playoff-best 39 points and Mohammed scored nine of his 19 points during a 17-3 third-quarter run, sending the Spurs past the Seattle SuperSonics 103-90 Tuesday night and putting them within a victory of the Western Conference finals.
The cozy win was a relief to San Antonio fans, who remembered the Spurs' last two second-round Game 5s. Playing the Lakers both times, San Antonio won on a Los Angeles miss in the closing seconds two years ago, then lost last year on Derek Fisher's amazing buzzer-beater. The Spurs never even trailed this time. The only tie was 50-50 at halftime and it was smashed by the huge spurt that opened the second half. "I don't know if it was pivotal, but it was important for our team," San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich said. Ray Allen led Seattle with 19 points, but he was practically invisible in the first and third quarters — the ones coach Nate McMillan called "the most important quarters of our season" prior to tipoff. Pestered by nemesis Bruce Bowen, Allen was scoreless in the opening period and his only point in the third was a free throw with 4.2 seconds left. He missed three foul shots that quarter after being 55-of-59 from the line in the postseason. Sonics forward Rashard Lewis missed his second straight game because of a sprained left big toe. He may return Thursday night for Game 6 in Seattle, when the Sonics will be trying to extend their season. "We know we can play better," McMillan said. "We know we didn't execute, especially defensively." The good news for Seattle fans is that the home team has won every game this series. The bad news: Coming into Tuesday night, Game 5 winners have won 103 of the 123 seven-game series that were tied at 2. San Antonio has followed the trend each of the last two years, with both series ending in Game 6. Tim Duncan had 20 points and 14 rebounds for San Antonio, while Tony Parker was 4-of-13 for just 11 points on his 23rd birthday. Ginobili is San Antonio's energizer, but he'd been doing it off the bench since the Spurs lost the playoff opener. He started all 74 regular-season games he played and Popovich downplayed the importance of the move. Starting again, Ginobili was 10-of-15 from the field and 15-of-17 from the line. He also had six assists and four rebounds. "I was very concerned about bringing a lot of juice, energy," Ginobili said. "It didn't matter if it was after six minutes or from the start. I wanted to drive to the basket and make things happen." Mohammed, who had just 19 points in the series coming into Game 5, was 8-of-10 with seven rebounds while also posting his career playoff-high in points. Antonio Daniels scored 17 points for Seattle and Nick Collison scored 14 off the bench. Luke Ridnour had 12, Jerome James 10 and Damien Wilkins nine, but the Sonics never led and were tied just once: 50-50 at halftime. They've led only once in the three games in San Antonio — 4-2 in Game 2. McMillan stressed the importance of a good start because the Sonics trailed by 12 and 13 after the first quarter of the first two games on the Spurs' court. Between the locker room and court, they must've forgotten. Allen threw the ball out of bounds on the opening possession and Seattle missed its first seven shots. James had two fouls before the Sonics finally scored on a layup by Daniels with 7:49 left in the quarter. As bad as they played, though, they trailed just 7-2. The Spurs led nearly the entire first half, but never by more than eight. It was 49-41 with 2:34 left until the break when Allen led a 9-1 run with two driving layups and a 3-pointer. Duncan missed three straight foul shots in that stretch and the game was tied at 50 at halftime. San Antonio showed its aggressiveness from the start of the second half, with an immediate offensive rebound, then tight defense on Allen that produced a steal by Ginobili and two free throws for the Argentine. Another Seattle turnover led to a dunk by Mohammed and a timeout by McMillan. The Sonics' next possession featured four misses before James made a jumper. Ginobili answered with a 3 and a few minutes later hit another, that one making it 67-53. "There were times we just got outworked," McMillan said. Seattle got within 80-75 with about 10 minutes left, but never got any closer. The lead was back to 10 on a Duncan jumper, then Ginobili fed Robert Horry for a dunk. Frustration got to the Sonics, with Damien Wilkins getting called for a flagrant foul when he slammed Ginobili down on a drive with 4:22 left. Seattle also picked up two technicals in the third quarter. Ginobili and Mohammed combined for San Antonio's first 24 points of the third quarter. ... Dominique Wilkins, aka "The Human Highlight Film," had to be smiling when his nephew Damien faked Horry on a 3, then drove past several Spurs for a dunk that brought everyone on Seattle's bench to their feet. ... The Spurs had nine turnovers after committing 23 in Game 4.
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