Heading to the east coast three games into a six-game road trip has been an opportunity to excel for San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker. Parker first began the road trip with a 26-point outing in Boston, then followed with a 33-point game in Indiana.
On Sunday, it took two overtime periods, but Parker guided the Spurs to a 111-106 victory in Toronto with 32 points, six rebounds, and five assists against the Raptors. With the Spurs still playing “small” on the wing without Kawhi Leonard and Stephen Jackson, other Spurs produced in the victory as five players finished with 11 or more points.
Here’s the rundown.
First quarter: Spurs 24, Raptors 25
The Raptors came out early as the aggressors behind Kyle Lowry’s (20 points) first two three pointers, but midway in the quarter the Spurs would go on a 7-2 run behind a Danny Green (13 points) and Gary Neal 3-pointer to give the Spurs a slim four point lead with 3-minutes to go. In the final minute though, the Raptors closed the quarter on a 5-0 run.
Second quarter: Spurs 49, Raptors 49
The second quarter was all about Ed Davis (15 points) and his dunking ability as Davis would grab offensive rebounds or passes in the pick-and-roll for simple two-handed dunks on his way to 10 points in the quarter. The Spurs’ starters would come in toward the end of the quarter and fuel the Spurs back to tie the game by half. Parker added eight points in the second, while Tim Duncan (26 points, 5 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 blocks) added six points, Boris Diaw (11 points) was the biggest surprise scoring wise as he had nine points after two quarters. The Spurs were shooting 51% in the first half, while they limited the Raptors to shooting 49%, but the Raptors were outrebounding them 8-2 in the offensive rebounding department.
Third quarter: Spurs 69, Raptors 70
The Spurs started shaky in the third as the Raptors built an early 9-point lead with an 11-2 run to start the third quarter. The Spurs turned the ball over four times early and didn’t make their first shot until the 6:26 mark with a Duncan layup. From there, it became the “Ginobili show” as Manu Ginobili (15 points, 7 rebounds, 5 assists) scored all eight of his points toward the end of the quarter as some of his highlights were and-1 plays and on one play, he stole a ball in the open court and put it through DeMar Derozan’s (29 points) legs. The Spurs finished the quarter with an 8-2 run.
Fourth quarter: Spurs 88, Raptors 88
The opposite of the third quarter happened to the Raptors in the fourth as they struggled to score and the Spurs were able to regain the lead. However, down the stretch the Raptors fought back to force overtime. The Spurs had one chance to win the game with the last shot of the game, but on an attempted pick-and-roll, Parker was fuddled by the Raptors defense and forced an air-ball 3-pointer. From there, the game went into overtime with the Spurs outscoring the Raptors 19-18 in the quarter.
First Overtime: Spurs 97, Raptors 97
The Spurs and Raptors both poured nine points in the overtime period. With less than 30 seconds remaining, Neal had a chance to give the Spurs a three point lead, but he missed a key free throw. With seconds remaining, DeRozan forced a jumper but Amir Johnson made a put back to send the game into double overtime.
Second Overtime: Spurs 111, Raptors 106
After two overtime period, Parker was just too much for the Raptors as he scored seven points in the final period as the Spurs outscored the Raptors 14-9 behind Parker and consistent defense. The Spurs ended up shooting 43% for the game, while holding the Raptors to 36% shooting.
The Spurs move to 11-3 on the season with the win. The team will play back-to-back as they fly down to Washington D.C. to face the Wizards on Monday. The Spurs are now 3-0 on their six game East coast road trip.
Post-game notes
· In the first quarter, Duncan blocked his 2,500th block of his career. Duncan finished the game with two more blocks after that.
· In the third, Diaw scored his season high of 11 points with a floater.
· It wouldn’t be surprising to see Patty Mills and one of the other Spurs’ big men aside from Duncan starting on Monday as Parker logged 46 minutes and Duncan logged 41 minutes of playing time against the Raptors. Green also played 48 minutes in the game.
· Raptors forward Andrea Bargnani had a really bad performance on Sunday, as he shot 2-of-19 in the game and some of his looks were wide open.
