Salsa Suprema: NBA 2012-13: San Antonio Spurs: 45-13

lunes, 25 de febrero de 2013

NBA 2012-13: San Antonio Spurs: 45-13

9 partidos de visitante, 7 victorias, 1 derrota ante un Detroit inspiradísimo y 1 derrota en suplementario ante Golden State en lo que fue "el partido de de su vida" para Jarrett Jack con 30 puntos y 10 asistencias desde el banco de suplentes. Creo que más no se puede pedirle a este equipo en temporada regular.

En un vibrante duelo de claro color argento, San Antonio se impuso 97-87 a Phoenix y sigue mandando en la Conferencia Oeste. Manu anotó 12 puntos para los Spurs mientras que Luis Scola aportó 15 para los Suns, que siguen en el fondo de la tabla.

Suns versus Spurs. El primero y el último de la Conferencia Oeste se encontraron en un partido picante si cabe, donde además hubo sabor a Generación Dorada. Los hombres de negro tuvieron a Manu en cancha medio partido (24 minutos) en los cuales anotó 12 puntos, capturó tres rebotes y entregó seis asistencias. El local, Phoenix, por su parte alistó a Luifa y en sólo veinte minutos metió 15 unidades, con seis recobres y dos pases gol. San Antonio de esta forma sigue lider en el Oeste con 45 victorias y 13 derrotas, el mejor récord de toda la liga. Los Suns siguen con 18 triunfos y 39 caídas en el fondo de la tabla.

PHOENIX (AP) -- Tony Parker took the night off with a sore right triceps. Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobili were far from their best.

Yet, even at the end of a long, long road trip, the San Antonio Spurs still had plenty to handle the Phoenix Suns in a 97-87 victory on Sunday night.

Patty Mills and Kawhi Leonard scored 16 points apiece to lead six players in double figures and the Spurs had a successful finish to their nine-game trip - a long annual journey caused by a rodeo back home - to boost their NBA-best record to 45-13.

''It was a great trip,'' coach Gregg Popovich said. ''We were 7-2, you have to be happy with that. I thought the guys kept good focus on the road here in the last game. You know they all want to go home and I thought they did a fine job.''

Tiago Splitter scored nine of his 14 in San Antonio's 35-point second quarter.

The Spurs have developed the kind of depth that they still win when one of their Big 3 is out.

''We've had to do it quite a bit this year as far as having one, two or three of those guys out,'' Popovich said. ''So the bench has gotten a good look and I think they have gained some good confidence through all that.''

Marcin Gortat scored 21 for Phoenix, 16 in the first half. Luis Scola added 15, and Goran Dragic had 10 points and 11 assists.

San Antonio beat the Suns for the sixth straight time and ninth in their last 10 meetings.

''There's always some mental lapse from wanting to get home, but this is what makes this team so professional and how we carry ourselves on and off the court through the entire season,'' Mills said. ''It's pretty impressive just as a player on the team watching how we carry ourselves.''

The Spurs scored the first 14 points of the second quarter, taking a 33-21 lead on Stephen Jackson's 3-pointer from the corner. The outburst reached 25-4 with Splitter scoring seven straight points, punctuated by his three-point play that put the Spurs up 44-25 with 4:53 left in the half.

Phoenix cut the lead to 13 three times the rest of the quarter with San Antonio leading 54-40 at the break.
The Suns never got it to single digits in the second half.

''We just have to be smarter and just continue to get better execution-wise at both ends of the floor,'' Phoenix interim coach Lindsey Hunter said. ''You play so hard and then you make one mistake against those guys and they make you pay. That's what they do. We'll continue to chip away at getting better.''

Danny Green sank a 3 to start the third quarter and make it 57-40. The Suns crawled back to cut it to 72-61 on a pair of free throws by Markieff Morris with 1:22 to go in the third quarter, but the Spurs scored the last six points of the period, capped by a breakaway layup from Mills, to lead 78-61 entering the fourth.

After San Antonio took its biggest lead at 84-63, the Suns scored eight in a row to cut it to 84-71 on Gortat's three-point play with 6:42 to go. But Green made another 3 and it was 87-71 with 6 1/2 minutes remaining. The final 10-point margin was as close as it got after that.

Gortat scored 16 in the first half on 8-of-12 shooting but no other Phoenix player had more than four in the first two quarters.

Mills had 12 points and Splitter 11 to lead first-half scoring for San Antonio.

Parker probably shouldn't have played in Friday night's overtime loss to Golden State, Popovich said, and there was no doubt he would sit this one out at the end of such a long trip and facing the worst team in the Western Conference.

''We're asking everybody to step up and pick up the slack again,'' Duncan said. ''Tony has been our best player all year long and our most consistent player all year long. He's got a little injury so it's great to give him some time off and let him get healed. It was just great to get a win for him.''

The Spurs play their next six at home, starting with a rematch against Phoenix on Wednesday night.

Western Conference
WESTERN		W	L	PCT	GB	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	DIFF	STRK	L10
1	San Antonio	45	13	.776	-	22-2	23-11	11-2	25-9	104.3	95.8	+8.4	Won 1	8-2
2	Oklahoma City	41	15	.732	3	25-4	16-11	6-3	28-8	106.6	97.5	+9.1	Won 2	6-4
3	LA Clippers	40	18	.690	5	22-6	18-12	8-4	27-10	100.4	94.1	+6.3	Won 1	6-4
4	Memphis	37	18	.673	6 ½	22-8	15-10	4-5	19-13	91.5	87.9	+3.5	Won 7	8-2
5	Denver	35	22	.614	9 ½	23-3	12-19	5-5	22-11	105.2	101.6	+3.6	Won 1	6-4
6	Golden State	33	23	.589	11	18-7	15-16	6-5	18-18	101.2	101.3	-0.1	Won 3	4-6
7	Utah	31	25	.554	13	21-6	10-19	5-4	18-19	98.5	98.8	-0.3	Lost 1	6-4
8	Houston	31	27	.534	14	19-8	12-19	4-7	13-20	106.3	103.5	+2.9	Lost 1	6-4

	LA Lakers	28	29	.491	16 ½	18-11	10-18	5-5	16-19	102.0	100.9	+1.1	Won 3	7-3
	Portland	26	30	.464	18	18-9	8-21	5-4	16-18	96.8	99.7	-2.9	Won 1	3-7
	Dallas	25	30	.455	18 ½	16-11	9-19	4-5	15-20	101.5	102.6	-1.1	Lost 1	6-4
	Minnesota	20	33	.377	22 ½	13-14	7-19	3-8	11-21	95.5	97.6	-2.2	Lost 2	3-7
	New Orleans	20	37	.351	24 ½	10-17	10-20	4-8	11-24	94.5	97.3	-2.8	Won 1	5-5
	Sacramento	19	38	.333	25 ½	14-13	5-25	3-5	8-25	97.1	104.3	-7.2	Lost 5	2-8
	Phoenix	18	39	.316	26 ½	12-15	6-24	4-7	11-23	94.6	100.2	-5.6	Lost 3	2-8

Eastern Conference
EASTERN		W	L	PCT	GB	HOME	ROAD	DIV	CONF	PF	PA	DIFF	STRK	L10
1	Miami	40	14	.741	-	24-3	16-11	8-1	20-9	103.2	96.1	+7.1	Won 11	10-0
2	Indiana	35	21	.625	6	23-5	12-16	9-2	23-12	93.7	89.4	+4.3	Won 4	8-2
3	New York	33	20	.623	6 ½	20-8	13-12	6-6	21-12	100.1	96.3	+3.8	Won 1	5-5