“Manu The Magnificent” Carries Spurs To Victory Beat Dallas 88-81

Posted by Jeff Sack under Main

San Antonio Spurs sixth man guard Manu Ginobili scored a game high 26 points, and the San Antonio Spurs staged a come back and defeated the Dallas Mavericks Sunday 88-81. The Spurs won despite the fact that they shot an anemic 33% (30-91) from the floor for the game. The win ties the Spurs for the fifth seed?in the NBA Western Conference Playoff race, 1.5 games behind Western Conference leaders the Los Angeles Lakers.

Dallas started out hot offensively as they led at the end of the first quarter 21-15. The Spurs had the game tied at 36 after Tony Parker hit a bucket was fouled on the play, and hit his shot at the line with 48 seconds left. But the Mavericks made the last two buckets of the period going into the half ahead 40-36. The Mavericks came back out of the locker room on a roll and soon had the lead up to 49-38 after Dirk Nowitzki drained an outside shot with 9:15 left in the quarter. But this is when the experience of the Spurs came into play, instead of panicking they regrouped. And with 3:17 left in the quarter Tim Duncan laid it up and in to give San Antonio a 55-54 lead. The Spurs never trailed again leading at the end of the quarter, 65-58.? Dallas was never able to get any closer than three points behind in the last period.

Manu shot 6-15 from the floor including 3 treys, and 11-11 from the line for the game high 26 points, 8 rebounds, 6 assists, 1 steal, 1 block. Tim Duncan recorded a double-double, 19 points, 13 boards, 1 assist, 1 block, Tony Parker scored 13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, in the San Antonio victory.

Dallas loss superstar forward Dirk Nowitzki during a bizarre play in the third quarter. Nowitzki was running to cover on defense when? his left leg buckled ot from under him. He fell to the floor writhing in pain, and was taken back to the locker room. The team is labeling a lower leg injury. Jerry Stackhouse led the Dallas effort as he scored 19 points,?4 rebounds, Jason Terry scored 17 points as he came off the bench, 3 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 1 block.? Josh Howard scored 13 points, 9 boards, 2 assists, 1 block, Dirk Nowitzki scored 11 points, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 blocks. San Antonio is now 47-23, Dallas is 44-26.

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