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Parker, Spurs defeat Raptors in double-overtime
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.
Tough loss if you are a Raptors fan: third straight game with a loss of three points or less.
1 Like
(As a Belgian Spurs fan, I was very happy to watch a Spurs game in real time during regular hours.)
- The Raptors gave up halfway the second OT. The game was still winnable, but they stopped believing. The raptor fans became silent too.
- Danny Green had three chances to win it. He missed twice and made a pass instead of shooting/driving on the third occasion. That's a pity.
- We should see a lot of Patty Mills tonight indeed. Maybe James Anderson too?
- Nice gesture to bring in Bonner near the end of the first half. It is cool that coaches care about these things, even at a professional level where something like this is not expected.
- Rebounding, rebounding, rebounding. Your shooting guard should never lead in the category. And I'm not saying that Danny Green should take less rebounds...
I can see it now. Our starters (mainly our big 3) won't have any energy or the legs to keep up with the Wizards tomorrow, and we will lose, giving the wizards their first win of the season and making the spurs the laughing stock of the league for a few days.
@ajd21 Mills Neal Andersen Blair Splitter. Still better than the Wizards. I might be mistaken, but the Wizards first win last season was against OKC that played back-to-back.
@Spursforever69 I was just kidding. But if it DOES happen, I told you so. Plus, this type of thing has happened to the spurs many times in the past. They would play a big game where the starters play big minutes, only to have very little energy left for the next game the next day, and they play like crap. Of course I don't want that to happen, but I've seen it happen plenty of times to where it's safe enough to at least bring it up. Just being honest here.
Great Win Spurs! I love what I'm seeing on the defensive end, just a matter of time for the shots to start falling.
Why do the Spurs labor to win a game? After 2 overtimes they overwhelmed the Raptors. With only the big "3" contributing mostly the points they escaped with the skin of their teeth. It is perplexing that they refuse to acknowledge the need for another big player to substitute for TD. It is without doubt that Blair, Splitter or Diaw can't do it. What if it not Leonard or Jackson who it out, but TD? What will happen? Catastrophe!
