San Antonio – After a far from perfect game for three quarters by both teams in the NBA Finals opener, San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili was perfect when it counted.
Ginobili was 6-of-6 from the field and scored 15 points in the fourth quarter Thursday to lead the Spurs to an 84-69 victory over the Detroit Pistons in Game 1. The all-star guard finished with 26 points on 10-of-16 shooting, sank two 3-pointers and grabbed nine rebounds in 39 minutes.
The best-of-seven series continues Sunday in San Antonio.
“The emotional part of this game is so big, it’s different to anything else,” Ginobili said. “When I started feeling that everything was going so good for me and I was able to finish or hit open 3s, (like) the one I hit in the fourth quarter. I just felt great. Couldn’t feel better.
“This is the NBA Finals. The first game is always a key. It was one of the highlights of my season.”
These Finals pit the two defensive teams from the regular season – not exactly a sexy formula for fast-break basketball or for drawing viewers. Before the game Detroit coach Larry Brown said, “Anybody that appreciates basketball will appreciate this series.”
Game 1 definitely lived up to a defensive battle. The Pistons shot 37.7 percent from the field and missed 5-of-6 3-point attempts. San Antonio shot 37.9 percent through three quarters before outscoring Detroit 29-18 in the fourth quarter.
“We had some good stuff happen for us, and I’m sure Detroit is going to think about that,” Spurs guard Tony Parker said.
Said Brown: “They defended us better than any team all year.”
The Spurs were coming off an eight-day layoff while the Pistons had only two off days. San Antonio looked rusty at the onset as Detroit jumped out to a 20-11 lead. But the Spurs finished the first quarter with a 6-0 run to trim their deficit to three.
“First quarter, we had a lot of easy shots, really could have had a big lead,” Brown said. “After that, (the Pistons) just made hustle play after hustle play.”
Detroit held a two-point lead at halftime after shooting 40 percent from the field; San Antonio shot 35 percent. Ginobili had just four points on 1-of-6 shooting at the half.
“I was very upset at halftime and I tried to calm down, play at a slower pace and things started to go better,” Ginobili said.
Ginobili scored seven points in the third quarter as San Antonio ended the quarter with a 55-51 lead. The Spurs limited Detroit to 28.6 percent shooting (6-of-21) in the third quarter.
“I thought the first two or three minutes (of the third) we played the way we should have,” said Detroit guard Chauncey Billups, a Denver native who earned team highs of 25 points and six assists. “And then after that, we kind of reverted back to some of those bad habits that we had in the first half. And it hurt us.”
The Spurs opened the fourth quarter with a 12-4 run that was finished by a three-point play from Ginobili that increased their lead to 67-55 with 7:39 left in the fourth quarter. After trailing 74-57, the Pistons used a 10-0 run to slice the Spurs’ lead to 74-67. But Ginobili sealed Game 1 by responding on three straight offensive possessions with a dunk, a 3-pointer and a running jumper to give San Antonio a comfortable 81-67 lead with 1:34 left. Twenty-two seconds later, Ginobili got a standing ovation.
“We put ourselves in a position where we could win a basketball game,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “But offensively, it was Manu Ginobili. He was something else.”
Said Spurs forward Tim Duncan: “Unbelievable. He was great.”
Staff writer Marc J. Spears can be reached at 303-820-5449 or mspears@denverpost.com.
