Cavs flee San Antonio down 2-0
SAN ANTONIO — Following Cleveland’s 103-92 loss to San Antonio in Game 2 of Sunday night’s NBA Finals, the Cavs were using jargon like “play harder,“ “make adjustments,“ “mental errors.“ Perhaps the Cavs are still in denial, clinging to some speck of hope as they head back to Cleveland down 2-0 in the series. From Cleveland’s side there was no mention of being outplayed, outmanned, out cold. The Spurs’ only cause for concern was that Cleveland would show any signs of life after administering such a beat-down through the first three quarters. The Cavs trailed by as many as 29 points, but cut the lead to 8 with 4:53 remaining, perhaps more due to a lack of Spurs’ focus than any magic bullet from Cleveland.
“I am concerned that we’re not putting it together for 48 minutes,” said Cleveland coach Mike Brown.
The Spurs hardly needed 48 minutes to put away Cleveland Sunday night. They only needed 12, in the first quarter: San Antonio built an 11-point lead with LeBron James sitting on the bench with a pair of fouls. San Antonio continued the punishment through the first half, running out to a 58-33 first-half lead.
Anybody who has been watching the Spurs dominate throughout the playoffs is aware that San Antonio has a successful formula that it uses game in and game out. There’s a pattern here. Talent yes, experience, sure; but how does Spurs’ coach Gregg Popovich manage to put it all together?
“We are not doing something special,” said Spurs’ guard Tony Parker, who has sparkled in the series so far, and had a game-high 30 Sunday night. “ We’re doing a better job taking turns, we’re taking great shots. But we need to remember, Cleveland played good against Detroit (down 2-0 in that series) and came back, so we need to be aware of that.”
Parker is the early front-runner for Finals MVP, but he defers to his 3-time Finals MVP teammate Tim Duncan:
“Tim is still the man,” Parker said.
The Spurs “Big 3” combined for 43 points; Parker led with 30, Duncan scored 23 and Manu Ginobili came in off the bench to add 25.
“I wish I had the answer, I’m not that smart,” said coach Brown. “We’ve been through this before, down 0-2. They didn’t look down going into the fourth quarter,“ he said, despite what seemed to be an insurmountable deficit for Cleveland.
“We’re still confident,” said LeBron James, who improved his Finals scoring from 14 points in Game One to 25 Sunday night. “It don’t matter if you lose by one or by 30, we just have to get a better effort, pick up our intensity and carry what we did in the fourth quarter into the next game.”
As they always seem to do, the Spurs had the answer and slammed the door on Cleveland’s comeback late in the fourth. After the Cavs pulled to within 9, Ginobili pulled up and dropped a long 3 and was fouled on the play by Cleveland rookie Daniel Gibson. Ginobili hit the free-throw to convert a 4-point play and push the score to 101-89 with 2:24 remaining.
“I was feeling good with my shot,” Ginobili said. “I had time enough to finish the shot and of course it was a big play and I was very, very happy for it.
“We play such a great game for 3 quarters, seeing the team just stop in the fourth….we got to finish the games. We are more humble by that. We are going to look for one win away, but not be too overconfident, we can’t get so relaxed.“
The Spurs put the game away straight out of the starting gate, taking advantage of a 9-minute stretch in which James sat on the bench in foul trouble.
In the 2005 Finals against Detroit, San Antonio won the first two games but had to go 7 games to beat the Pistons and win the championship.
The Cavaliers have never been in the Finals and the atmosphere for Game 3 Tuesday night in Cleveland promises to be electrifying. It will be a further test of the Spurs’ experience in difficult situations; they have been unfazed in the playoffs thus far.
