06 November 2008

A Win Needed So Badly

It has been... i forget how long, i haven't born yet, but isn't a loss in season opener, then followed by 2 more, too much for the Spurs? I mean, look at them, 2 years ago they're in the top of the world... i mean: "top of the USA". Sure, Coach Pop knows how to make his players understand that winning the NBA championship means nothing compared to the world; it's only one of terms defined in american dreams, and by his name, you know that's he's not a native.
 
Three losses! Well, what do you expect, all came from playoff teams -- or at least playoff-caliber teams -- a 5-point-game from an Arizona team, followed by a near-win (but unfortunately lost) game in Portland, and a blow-out against texas arch-rival back home. The fourth one should be easier anyhow, as predictors ranked them as high as the 12th team out Western Conference, the Wolves.
 
Should you watch the game, it didn't turn out exactly like that. Super Parker, recording his second double-double in the first four games which isn't what he is this recent years, leading the team with 55 points in a heroic double-OT win in Target Center, including his 20-feet-buzzer-beater shot that slipped through the basket as time expired in the first overtime to force the tie at 116. It also matched the third-highest point scored by a Spur in a single regular game. Only the Admiral's 71 points and Iceman's 63 points exceed Parker's total this night, and both of them made in the final game of the regular season to clinch the NBA scoring title for both players. Had the 2008/09 season end by today, he will, lead the NBA in scoring, matches his two predecessor back in 1978 and 1994. Rookie George Hill quoted as saying something like: "never seen something like that, except when i was playing him in video games."
 
Hill also had some role that make Spurs look fresh. Swingman Roger Mason, Jr., whom the Spurs signed last summer to take some of the load off Ginobili, doing well by scoring 26 points, including two vital offensive rebounds in the last 25 seconds of the second overtime. He is now third in scoring average behind Parker and Duncan.
 
Tim Duncan did what he did every night, but Minnesota had him worked harder, so someone had to be more aggresive on the other end. Last year, it was Manu. And tonight, the French point guard took over.
 
He played more than 48 minutes, but "I just wanted to win so bad that I was going to do everything i can." And at the end, "whew, I am tired."
 
But at the end, the win finally did come. When one came, they'll be always others to follow.

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