The San Antonio Spurs got their 53rd win of the season and their 11th straight against the Sacramento Kings last night beating the Kings, 108-103.
While the Kings were missing Tyreke Evans and Beno Udrih, they managed to keep it close, especially in the final minutes. But the Spurs big three of Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan proved to be more than the Kings could handle.
James Anderson got the start at small forward with Richard Jefferson being out due to personal reasons, but the pre-game adjustments didn’t stop there. Antonio McDyess replaced DeJuan Blair in the starting lineup, which gave the bench some added depth.
Tony Parker finished with 27 points and six assists, and Manu Ginobili had 24 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
The Spurs now have a six game advantage over the Dallas Mavericks and are now 31-3 at home.
Quoteable
“You can’t. You try to make (Ginobili) go right, everybody says to make him go right. You try to double team him at certain times, but he’s seen it all. He’s one of the very best players in the league and he’s particularly great in fourth quarter situations.” – Kings coach Paul Westphal.
In Retrospect
I had a chance to talk to Zach Harper of Cowbell Kingdom before the game and his prediction wasn’t too far off:
“Kings lose by 12. I think it will be close until the third quarter. Pop will adjust to the Kings and Westphal won’t know how to counteract that.”
Fantasy Focus
After scoring only six points against the Lakers on Sunday, Manu Ginobili has bounced back with two strong performances since and his three-pointer last night might have been enough to put your team over the top.
Pooh Jeter is also very interesting and may continue to get decent minutes with Tyreke Evans and Beno Udrih out.
