Magic shut down Duncan, top Spurs 110-84
March 18, 2010
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP)—Tim Duncan(notes) sat stiff and stared aimlessly on the benchwatching his San Antonio Spurs get blown away in the final minutes.
His movement wasn’t much better on the court. The Orlando Magic made sure ofthat.
Vince Carter(notes) had 24 points and eight assists, and the Magic smothered Duncanto beat San Antonio 110-84 on Wednesday night.
“I liked our defense on him. I thought we did a good job,” Magic coachStan Van Gundy said. “At the same time, he can make a lot of the shots he wastaking. What you try to do is just not make things easy and then you live withthe result.”
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The result for the Magic couldn’t have been better.
Duncan had five points and was 1 for 10 from the field in the worst shootingpercentage game of his career, a big reason the Spurs lost for only the secondtime in their last 10 games. Duncan’s previous low was a 1-for-8 night againstMinnesota on April 20, 2005, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
“Just a bad night,” Duncan said. “Mainly myself. It kind of starts withme.”
Rashard Lewis(notes) finished with 20 points, and J.J. Redick(notes) had 10 points to helpthe Magic win for the ninth time in 10 games. Orlando moved four games ahead ofAtlanta and Boston for second in the Eastern Conference, but is still six gamesbehind Cleveland.
“We want to win it. We’re not one of those teams that are happy just makingthe playoffs,” said Magic point guard Jameer Nelson(notes), who played through a sinusinfection. “We want to win it. We want to have a team that wants to win it.That’s what we’re building toward.”
A matchup of two of the NBA’s dominant big men fell flat.
Howard was hardly a part of the offense with nine points on 3-of-4 shooting,with two makes coming late with the Magic up big. Duncan made the first basketof the game for the Spurs—a short hook—and then went silent.
“It’s a very good feeling,” said Magic backup center Marcin Gortat(notes), whohad a big hand in locking up Duncan. “He’s a great player. If you stop a guylike that, you’re confidence is going up, and you feel good about it. It’s TimDuncan. Everybody will have a bad game. He’s still a great player. We justplayed better.”
The difference was a deeper and more rested Orlando team.
The Magic held the Spurs scoreless for almost 6 minutes in the secondquarter, shutting down San Antonio with almost entirely reserves. Not evenHoward—the reigning Defensive Player of the Year—was needed.
Backups Gortat, Redick, Brandon Bass(notes) and Jason Williams(notes) teamed with MattBarnes(notes) for most of the stretch to help Orlando score 14 straight points, part ofa run that gave the Magic a 48-28 lead.
“We see the energy. The ball moves more, and the game looks really nice,”Gortat said of the second string.
The only downside during the stretch was Michael Pietrus sprained his leftankle trying to make a pass. He got twisted up and fell to the ground, grimacingin pain. Van Gundy said Pietrus will miss Thursday’s game at Miami but shouldn’tmiss any more time.
Richard Jefferson(notes) had 20 points, and Manu Ginobili(notes) added 18 for San Antonio,which fell to 4-2 since point guard Tony Parker(notes) broke his right hand.
The Spurs briefly came back behind a pair of 3-pointers by Matt Bonner(notes) andanother by Ginobli, slicing the deficit to 10 points at the half.
Then Carter opened the third quarter with a trio of hard-driving layups.Carter also added an alley-oop pass to Howard—for a hard slam over Jefferson—to highlight a 13-4 Magic run that put them ahead by 22 points and all butsealed the win, pushing Duncan to the bench early.
“It’s hard to play with Tim having an off night,” Ginobili said. “Itotally, blindly trust him. Just one of those game.”
NOTES: Spurs C Greg Popovich said he had planned to sit Duncan in some ofthe second games of a back-to-back late in the season. But with his teambeginning Wednesday seventh in the Western Conference, he’s had to change plans.“Because of our situation, it just doesn’t allow me to sit him as much,”Popovich said. … Barnes returned after missing Sunday’s game with a sprainedleft big toe.
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