The scene shifts to south Texas Friday night as the San
Antonio Spurs and Dallas Mavericks hook up for the pivotal Game 3 of
their Western Conference quarterfinals set.
Tim Duncan, who turns 34 this weekend, totaled 25 points and 17 rebounds on
Wednesday, and San Antonio opened a huge lead before holding off the
Mavericks, 102-88, to even the series at a game apiece.
Manu Ginobili added 23 points for the Spurs, who led by as many as 20 in the
third before watching that margin close to five in the fourth. Duncan had 10
of his points in that last quarter, including a personal 8-0 push to open a
97-84 San Antonio lead with under four minutes left.
"We went to Tim just about every other time down the stretch and he came
through by scoring and rebounding at the other end," Spurs coach Gregg
Popovich said. "He's always that guy that gets taken for granted because
he's been doing that for so many years just being an anchor for us. And he did
a really good job of scoring when they cut it to six or eight and he really
helped us keep the lead."
Tony Parker chipped in 16 points and eight assists in a reserve role, while
Richard Jefferson scored 19 in the win.
"It's a much nicer trip after a win, so we're going to enjoy it. But at the
same time we've got to be so humble," Ginobili said. "This is a long series.
We've lost at home to them many times, so we've just got to stay humble, keep
working hard knowing full well that it's going to be a long series."
Jason Terry came off the bench for 27 points and Dirk Nowitzki contributed 24
with 10 rebounds for Dallas, which grabbed Game 1, 100-94, on Sunday and had
won four straight postseason games against the Spurs.
Caron Butler had 17 points and seven rebounds while Jason Kidd went just 1-
of-7 from the field and ended with five points and eight assists after missing
a triple-double by two rebounds in the opener
"We started out and missed, blew three coverages on the first three plays of
the game and those are mental mistakes," Mavs coach Rick Carlisle said. "They
scored, Dirk had two fouls and it we were digging ourselves out of a hole from
there going forward. In the playoffs you have to be very precise. You are
going to make mistakes, but to start the game was a really tough situation for
us."
stake: 9/10
picks: 1 (-3,0)
odds: 1.85
bookmaker: bet365
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