Tim Duncan delivered a victory in overtime for the second straight game. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Spurs defeated the Grizzlies 104-93 in overtime to take Game 3 of the Western Conference finals on Saturday. San Antonio now hold...
Tim Duncan delivered a victory in overtime for the second straight game. (Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Spurs defeated the Grizzlies 104-93 in overtime to take Game 3 of the Western Conference finals on Saturday. San Antonio now holds a 3-0 series lead.
• Still old, still dominant. Here are the ages of the 10 players who took the court at the start of overtime once the Spurs and Grizzlies finished regulation with 86 points apiece: 21, 25, 28, 28, 31, 31, 31, 33, 35 and 37. The last two numbers in that sequence, of course, belong to the ageless Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan, who helped San Antonio overcome a dreadful start and outlast a Memphis team that was in make-or-break mode. The second-oldest on the list, Ginobili, scored the Spurs’ final four points in regulation, craftily beating a great defense to create points out of thin air.
The oldest, Duncan, owned the extra period for the second straight game, scoring seven of his 24 points in overtime after scoring six of his 17 points in Game 2′s overtime period. Playing 44 minutes, the most time he’s logged in a game since April 2010, Duncan added 10 rebounds, five assists and two blocks and shot 58 percent from the field (his second-best mark this postseason) against a younger, hungry, desperate, talented front line that’s among the league’s best. He was the last man standing for the second time in this series and for about the 60-billionth time of his career.
“We’ve been ‘old’ probably for eight years now,” Ginobili joked to reporters after the game. “I remember in 2007, our last championship, they were saying that we were old.”
In a series defined by an insanely high level of defensive intensity and execution and the long stretches of offensive struggles the quality defense has produced, Duncan again looked like the freshest player on the court in the game’s biggest moments. His and-one basket, achieved by going straight through Marc Gasol, launched a 12-3 overtime run that essentially buried the Grizzlies’ hopes in this series. If that wasn’t splendid enough, he followed it up with a no-look touch pass to Tiago Splitter for a layup moments later. Finally, a patented soft-touch finish at the rim to gently plunge the dagger.
“He was huge the other night in overtime and got it done for us and he did it again tonight,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “That’s why he is considered as great as he has been for the last 17 years. He’s been unbelievable, he feels the responsibility to carry us.”
Then, like the rest of us, Popovich ran out of words to describe Duncan’s reliable, commanding excellence. ”I don’t know what else to say,” he shrugged.
Although both Game 2 and Game 3 ended with San Antonio dominating in overtime, the two games had inverted plots. In Game 2, the Spurs’ offense went dead in the fourth quarter; in Game 3, the Spurs committed eight turnovers and managed just four baskets in a 13-point first-quarter. Popovich actually pulled all five of his starters simultaneously in apparent disgust at a flat start that followed three off days since Game 2.
“It looked like those five guys had been asleep since Tuesday,” Popovich said. “We might as well get five guys out there to start to compete. … It was one of the worst starts I’ve ever seen.”
Memphis will regret its inability to pull away then and there, as the Spurs closed the deficit from 18 points to just four by halftime, before taking their first lead of the game early in the fourth quarter. The Grizzlies’ predicament here was much the same as it has been: all the effort, heart and guts in the world isn’t translating to efficient scoring. Memphis shot below 44 percent for the third straight game in the series; a team-high 20 points from an aggressive Mike Conley, 14 points and 15 rebounds from a re-engaged Zach Ra