It was one memorable night for the surprisingly struggling San Antonio Spurs. First, they whipped the Indiana Pacers, 100-99, to give longtime coach Greg Popovich his 700th career NBA win (all with the Spurs). Then Tim Duncan looked like he was just sprinkled with a newly-found youthful potion as he slammed in a dunk with 4.6 seconds left over the outstretched arms of Indiana bigman Roy Hibbert to score the decisive basket over the Pacers.
Duncan finished with 19 points and 16 rebounds as the Spurs came back from a 13-point deficit at the end of the 3rd canto to snatch the hard-earned victory. The Alamo outfit currently sits at the third spot of the Southwest Division (behind Dallas and Houston) with a 14-10 win-loss slate. “I wanted to try to take it to the glass and see what happens, and Hibbert made a very good defensive play,” Duncan said. “I saw the guy come from the corner and tried to stretch it out, and he still got a piece of it, and it just came right back to me. It was a little bit of luck.”
Hibbert was feeling down after the game wherein he thought the Pacers lost because of his poor defensive play against Duncan in the waning seconds of the game. “I blocked it and he got it right back,” Hibbert said. “I should have made a second effort to try and get another block but I was off-balance and he dunked it and finished it for his team.”
On the other hand, Popovich became only the 16th mentor in NBA history to reach 700 wins and is among seven active coaches to reach the milestone. He credited the win to Duncan, whom he says is chiefly responsible for most of them over the last 13 years. “As has been all season, Tim Duncan is our most consistent player,” Popovich said. “He’s been fantastic.”
The Spurs won despite shooting poorly from the stripes converting only 23 of 38 free throws.
The Popovich-Duncan tandem continues to shine in Texas and it will surprise no one to see them go deep again into the post-season play come April 2010.
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Herewith are the completed transactions covering the period December 1 to 17:
Thursday, December 17
Portland signed forward Anthony Tolliver.
Monday, December 14
Miami waived forward Shavlik Randolph.
Sunday, December 13
New York signed forward Jonathan Bender.
Wednesday, December 2
Philadelphia signed guard Allen Iverson.
Utah signed head coach Jerry Sloan to a contract extension.
Tuesday, December 1
New Jersey named Kiki Vandeweghe head coach and Del Harris assistant coach.
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