Suns push Spurs to brink of elimination
SAN ANTONIO – Goran Dragic scored 23 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter Friday as Phoenix beat San Antonio 110-96 to take a commanding 3-0 lead in their NBA Western Conference playoff series.
The Suns, who have fallen to the Spurs in the postseason four straight times since 2003, are now perfectly poised for revenge.
No team has climbed out of an 0-3 hole to win a best-of-seven NBA postseason series.
Dragic's spectacular fourth quarter performance meant Suns star Steve Nash was able to watch from the bench until the final three minutes, resting up the Suns hope to finish off the series in game four on Sunday in San Antonio.
Dragic hit nine of 11 shots in the fourth, including all four of his attempts from three-point range.
"Coach said 'Don't be shy, just be aggressive, attack the basket,'" Dragic said. "Third and fourth quarter, I just did it."
Dragic, who is playing in the first post-season of his NBA career, had averaged 7.9 points in the regular season and was averaging 5.6 in the playoffs coming into the game.
"I work hard for this moment so I'm really happy for this," the Slovenian said.
Jason Richardson had 21 points and Grant Hill chipped in 18 for the Suns.
Manu Ginobili scored 27 points to lead the Spurs, who put Tony Parker back in the starting lineup.
Parker had come off the bench since returning from a broken right hand last month but reclaimed his starting role from George Hill as San Antonio sought to turn the series around.
"It's just time," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said before the game of the decision to start Parker. "He's our starter. At some point he was going to return that situation."
But Parker, who had averaged 23 points off the bench in games one and two, scored just 10 and was only 5-of-17 from the floor.
For the second straight game San Antonio squandered a lead as the Suns battled back from a 39-21 second-quarter deficit.
First Posted 13:41:00 05/08/2010
Agence France-Presse
Click here for more NBA Playoff 2010 game results and clips
Subscribe in a reader
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment