SPURS FIGHT BACK

 

(Image taken from NBA.com)

Well the 2008 NBA Western Conference Finals looked to have everything going for it. The two teams who'd won every Western Conference title this site of the Millenium but one battling it out for a return to the Finals. Thing is though, the opening games made the series look very one sided. The Lakers won both Games 1 and 2 in LA. So that left the series switching to San Antonio with the defending champions already on amber alert. It was not do or die, but it was definately last best hope territory.

Well the opening minute of the game was scoreless but it was the Spurs that eventually opened the scoring 2-0. However this turned out to be a Lakers show in one turned out to be an iffy first quarter including a scoreless period of over two minutes. The Spurs retook the lead mid-quarter but the Lakers came back again and surged into a lead and though the came close on multiple occasions, they couldn't turn the game round before the first buzzer. Kobe Bryant led with 8 points, Lakers led 24-21.

The opening couple of minutes of the second quarter were again uneventful though the Lakers led 26-23 at one point but less than a minute later the Spurs had turned the game round and though the Lakers kept in the contest till mid quarter this was reall the period in which they got blitzed! The Spurs went on a surge in the later stages that saw their lead hit double digits, and the Lakers couldn't find a response before half time. Manu Ginobli was running the show with 22 points already!

Well the best the Lakers certainly didn't lay down and die in the third but all they were able to do was just keep things ticking over and their defence was resorting to what looked like Pistons tactics. That allowed them to cut the deficit to single figures but they were never able to use that as a launch pad. They got the deficit down to eight mid-quarter but the Spurs soon got in back to double figures and the Lakers had it all to do with a quarter remaining. Ginobli led on 25 points, Tim Duncan backed him up on 17. Spurs led 69-57.

The Lakers opened the scoring in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit down to nine only for a 10-0 run from the Spurs to effectively end the game with nine minutes still on the clock. It was now damage limitation for the Lakers but they were soon struggling to keep the deficit from breaking the 20 point barrier and though they appeared to stop the rot for a while but the Spurs went on another run late on and the game ended with Ginobli on 30 points, Duncan on 22 and Tony Parker on 20. Spurs won 103-84!

In the East, the Celtics faced the Pistons in Detroit. The Celtics caught the home crowd completely on the hop with an awesome start and though the Pistons recovered late in the first to lead the game 17-15 that was as good as it got and the Celts retook the lead before the first buzzer. The Pistons then got scorched in the second quart and that was pretty much that. The home side had the better fourth quarter but it was still Kevin Garnett leading the way with 22 points as the Celtic won 94-80 to put themselves well back in business!

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