Manu
Ginobli hit a pair of free throws with 3.8 seconds left and the San
Antonio Spurs continued their home court dominance over Atlanta with a
94-92 victory Wednesday.
It
was the 17th consecutive defeat at AT&T Center for Atlanta, which
lost last season on a jumper by Tim Duncan with .4 seconds left and
hasn’t defeated the Spurs on the road since February, 1997.
Atlanta
trailed for nearly the entire night, but took its first lead at 90-88
when Al Horford capped a 6-0 spurt with a jumper at the 1:16 mark. The
Spurs (2-1) weren’t particularly efficient from the free-throw line on
the night (27-of-38, 71 percent), though the defending NBA champions
made their charity shots when it counted. At the one-minute mark,
Ginobli was fouled by Kyle Korver while attempting a 3-pointer hit all
three free throws for a 91-90 lead. Duncan hit 1-of-2 with 18.6 seconds
remaining for a two-point cushion, then five seconds later, Jeff Teague
tied the game with a nice running, bank shot.
Ginobli
drove into the lane and went up a for a shot and was again fouled.
After he calmly drained his free throws, Atlanta set up for a final
play, but faced with limited choices, Pero Antic’s 3-point attempt from
about 35 feet was partially blocked by Boris Diaw as the buzzer sounded.
Atlanta
(1-2), which also dropped its eighth consecutive game overall to San
Antonio, trailed by as much as 17 points, but got to within one
possession on several occasions in the fourth quarter.
Dennis
Schroder came off the bench and provided a huge spark. The second-year
guard had a 3-pointer with one minute left in the third, then had six
points and an assist during a two-minute stretch of the fourth, which
included an emphatic dunk in the lane at the 7:59 mark that made it a
77-76 game.
It was no more than a two-possession contest the rest of the way.
The
Spurs built their lead back up to 86-81 when Diaw hit 1-of-2 from the
line. Milsap (17 points) answered with a three-point play and Horford
had a tip-in and assisted on DeMarre Carroll’s jumper, part of a
17-point game for Carroll, that tied the game at 88-88 with 1:48 to go.
Milsap
had eight points in the third quarter and his thunderous dunk in
transition got the Hawks started on an 8-3 run to close the period and
it was just a 68-62 deficit heading into the fourth.
San
Antonio again looked poised to run away with a victory in the early
part of the fourth as Cory Joseph had a three-point play for a 74-62
lead at the 11:20 mark.
The
Spurs, who last lost at home to Atlanta the year before Duncan’s rookie
season, got off to a great shooting start and built its double-digit
lead while the Hawks were ice cold.
Milsap’s
lay up on a give-and-go pass from Horford pulled the Hawks to within
15-11 just over five minutes into the game, but Atlanta went the next
4:22 without a point. On a 9-0 stretch during that same time span,
Duncan had four points and the Spurs led 24-11 at the 3:19 mark.
The
Spurs hit 61 percent of their shots in the opening quarter, then kept
up their hot shooting in the early stages of the second. After
consecutive field goals by Diaw, it was a 36-21 cushion with 8:19 to go
until halftime.
Thabo
Sefolosha had a steal that led to a lay up by Mike Scott to get the
Hawks as close as 36-25. Atlanta struggled from the field for much of
the opening half, but after Kawhi Leonard’s lay up made it a 46-30 game,
Atlanta finished the second quarter strong.
The
Hawks hit their final five shots of the second, including a bucket by
Kyle Korver in which the 13-year player reached 8,000 career points,
Carroll’s 3-pointer in the corner and a Teague lay up with five and a
half seconds left that trimmed the deficit to 49-39 at the break.
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