Spurs cool down Heat's home winning streak

Wednesday, 17 March 2010 10:28 PM Adrian Dy

Manu, the super-sub plays pretty well as Manu, the super-starter too.

Argentine Manu Ginobili helped preserve what was left of the San Antonio Spurs' (40-25) third quarter lead and extended it to a more comfortable margin to end the Miami Heat's (35-33) 6-game home winning streak, 88-76.

San Antonio has won eight of its past nine games, and are 4-1 since they lost starting point guard Tony Parker to a broken right hand. A large part of their success has been, without a doubt, Ginobili stepping up into the starting shooting guard spot to play alongside sophomore George Hill.

Ginobili had 22 points on 50 percent shooting. He also had 5 rebounds and 2 steals. Richard Jefferson added 15 markers and Tim Duncan finished with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Dwayne Wade led all scorers with 28 points, 5 assists and 3 steals, while his big men, Jermaine O'Neal and Udonis Haslem combined for 23 points and 18 rebounds.

Tim Duncan hit a 12-footer, midway through the third quarter to give San Antonio its biggest lead of the game, 67-42. But Dwayne Wade scored 9 of a 4-12 run to end the third canto at 71-54.

The run continued into the fourth quarter, as Miami scored 11 right off the bat, to get within 6 points, 71-65. A triple from Ginobili would stop the bleeding, causing Miami to call timeout.

Off the stoppage, Wade scored on a driving lay-up, 74-67, but Richard Jefferson answered back with a deuce of his own, and after a Heat miss, Ginobili would hit another 3 to effectively quash Miami's chances of rallying.

San Antonio's record, good for 7th, kept them in pace with Phoenix Suns, who also won today, leaving the Spurs a half-game out of the 6th seed in the West. The Portland Trailblazers are a game behind San Antonio.

The loss on the other hand, dropped Miami to 7th in the East with the Charlotte Bobcats ahead of them because of tie-breakers. The Toronto Raptors are a game and half back in the 8th seed.

GAME NOTES:

The San Antonio defense Miami, holding them to just 38.5 percent from the field and 18.8 percent from beyond the arc. They also shot just 68.4 percent from the charity line.
Miami Heat forward Michael Beasley returned from injury, after missing 2 games. He scored only 6 points on 3 of 10 shooting and grabbed 5 rebounds
Since going scoreless versus the New York Knicks four games ago, Richard Jefferson has averaged 17 points.
Miami never led this game. They hadn't trailed by more than a single point in any of their last three games.

Scores:
San Antonio Spurs 88 : M. Ginobili - 22, G. Hill - 16, R. Jefferson 15, T. Duncan - 12, K. Bogans -8, A. McDyess - 8, R. Mason - 3, D. Blair - 2, M. Bonner - 2, M. Hairston - 0, C. Jackson - 0, I. Mahinmi - 0
Miami Heat 76 : D. Wade - 28, J. O'Neal - 13, U. Haslem - 10, C. Arroyo - 8, M. Beasley - 4, D. Wright - 4, J. Anthony - 1, M. Chalmers - 0, Q. Richardson - 0

Quarter Scoring:
29 - 14, 55 - 37, 71 - 54, 88 - 76

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