LOS ANGELES, 2 February 2005 — Even though the San Antonio Spurs own the NBA’s best record, they’ve been at their worst against the Seattle SuperSonics, until getting back on track.
Argentina’s Manu Ginobili scored 23 points while Tim Duncan had 21 and 10 rebounds, helping the Spurs earn their first victory of the season in three tries against the short-handed SuperSonics, 103-84 on Monday night.
San Antonio took advantage of the absence of flu-ridden All-Star guard Ray Allen, and Sonics head coach Nate McMillan, who left the team following the death of his mother over the weekend.
“We knew we had lost both games in the series to those guys, and we approached it as such,” Duncan said. “It was unfortunate they were without their head coach and best player but we’ve lost too many games to teams without their best player playing.
“Tonight was a conscious effort not to start with a letdown, start thinking the fact that just because they’re undermanned they’re going to give it up. So, we just tried to jump on them early and try to stay on them the rest of the way.”
Frenchman Tony Parker had 17 points, 10 rebounds and six assists for San Antonio, (37-10), which tipped off a grueling seven-game, 19- day road trip.
Parker said the outcome would have been the same whether or not Allen played.
“There was no way they’re beating us three times in a row,” he said. “I know Ray Allen didn’t play, but we were so focused and motivated for this game, we knew we were going to win.”
Without McMillan to call the shots, and Allen’s 24 points per game, the Sonics struggled offensively against the Spurs’ league-best defence.
“Now we know how it is when we don’t have Ray Allen,” acting head coach Dwane Casey explained. “Life without he and coach Mac are two people we missed tonight.”
Vladimir Radmanovic, Antonio Daniels and Flip Murray, filling in for Allen, scored 13 points apiece for Seattle, (30-13), which shot an icy 41 per cent (30-for-73).
“You have to give credit to San Antonio, they’re a championship team for a reason,” Casey added. “They established the way they wanted to play early by attacking the boards and we couldn’t recover from it.”
The Spurs received 10 points from defensive specialist Bruce Bowen in the first quarter, nine from Ginobili in the second, and closed on an 8-0 run to grab a 48-34 halftime cushion.
In the third quarter Parker netted 11 points as San Antonio’s cushion swelled to 21 points. They carried a 76-59 cushion entering the final quarter and coasted the rest of the way.
Rockets 97 Celtics 94: China’s Yao Ming scored 23 points and Jon Barry added 15 of his 17 in the fourth quarter as the Rockets regrouped after blowing a 16-point lead to bounce the Celtics for the seventh time in the last eight meetings. Ricky Davis led Boston with 17 of his 24 points in the fourth quarter, while Paul Pierce added 22.
76ers 89 Pacers 88: Allen Iverson, returning from a three-game absence (sore shoulder) had 27 points along with nine rebounds and eight rebounds, and spotted Kyle Korver for the game-winning jumper with 6.5 seconds left as the 76ers held off the visiting Pacers.
Korver had 17 points for Philadelphia, (21-23), which moved one- half game ahead of Boston atop the weak Atlantic Division.
Stephen Jackson scored 25 points while Jermaine O’Neal collected 21 points and 10 rebounds in Indiana’s fifth straight loss.
Hawks 80 Magic 79: Tony Delk scored 17 points and Antoine Walker buried a fall-away jumper with 2.3 seconds remaining to cap a 12-point, 12-rebound effort, helping the Hawks halt a four- game slide. Steve Francis led Orlando with 24 points and Grant Hill added 19.
Grizzlies 98 Hornets 91: Stromile Swift and Lorenzen Wright scored 19 points apiece, carrying the Grizzlies to their fourth win in the last five games. Dan Dickau had 19 points and 12 assists for league-worst New Orleans (8-36).
Clippers 96 Knicks 89: Elton Brand scored 24 points, and Chris Kaman had 18 and 10 rebounds, leading the Clippers past the slumping Knicks for their fourth win in the last five games.
Los Angeles, (22-23), has won two in a row since its leading scoring Corey Maggette was sent to the sidelines with a sore left collarbone.
Stephon Marbury scored 20 points and Jamal Crawford added 19 for New York, (18-26), which finished January with a 2-13 mark, its worst month in the franchise history.
