Thoughts on last night’s game and news from around the NBA

Victory beards for all!

Looking at the standings yesterday, you could almost make a case that it was time to panic in San Antonio.  However, the response from the Spurs was something entirely different.  Shutting down the Thunder in the 4th quarter, the Spurs beat Oklahoma City 95-87.

Manu Ginobli lead all scorers with 26 points while the San Antonio defense held Kevin Durant to 21 points, his lowest total since Dec. 19.  Durant entered the game as the NBA’s leading scorer but struggled to make the few open opportunities he had.

The game was close until Russell Westbrook’s jump shot with 4:31 gave the Thunder a 2 point lead.  It would be Oklahoma City’s last basket of the game, making only 2 free throws over the next 4 and 1/2 minutes.

After 2 Westbrook free throws with 2:26 remaining, Manu Ginobli scored the last 6 points to give the Spurs the victory.

With the win, San Antonio moved out of an 8th place tie with the Trailblazers.  They play again tomorrow against Houston.

Thoughts: This was another tough game against Oklahoma City.  I expected it to be easier because of the Thunder playing the night before in Phoenix, but they didn’t wear down until the 4th quarter.  It was a combination of good defense and tired legs that allowed the Spurs to pull away.

The defense did a great job on Durant as he needed 17 shots to get 21 points.  The Thunder’s big trio scored a lot, but the rest of the team didn’t contribute much.  I was surprised OKC had such a short bench, playing only 3 reserves after having a game in Phoenix the night before.  The Spurs on the other hand played a more balance lineup and got contributions across the board.  It was a good win and a good start to what I’ve determined is the Spurs playoffs.

News from around the NBA: The NBA has ruled that Caron Butler can not chew on straws during games.  Fortunately for him, he’s already chewed straws in enough games to be eligible to keep his “Most Straws Chewed per game” title another season.

Hasheem Thabeet was sent from the Grizzlies to the D-League Wizards.  I didn’t know Washington had dropped down to the D-League.  Oh?  That’s the Dakota Wizards.  Has sheem Tha beet out of favor with Grizzlies management.  See what I did there?  No?  He seems to be out of favor with Grizzlies management.  Have it your way!

While we here at AirAlamo are Spurs fans through and through, it excites me to no end to present to you some very rare footage.  Thanks to Youtube, we have discovered some long lost footage of what appears to be relatives of the Gasol family playing basketball.  Thankfully today’s Gasol’s are a lot better than their ancestors!