Michael Finley and Manu Ginobili rose above the ragged fray of a jittery Game 6, playing for the San Antonio Spurs as if they refused to slip into the off-season.
When the Spurs’ superstar, Tim Duncan, overcame his foul trouble to score 16 points in the second half, the threesome had lifted the defending champions to a 91-86 victory, sending the Western Conference semifinals back to San Antonio for Game 7.
How fitting an ending to a series that has had no end to drama.
By tipoff, the intrastate rivalry already had built to a thunderous crescendo. Four games had been decided in the final seconds, superstars had traded clutch performances and the coaches had found ways to out-maneuver each other.
With Mavericks guard Jason Terry sitting at home, suspended for punching Finley in the waning moments of Game 5, the Spurs did all they could to exact an advantage.
Despite struggling in the first half, the Spurs made all 15 of their second-half free throws, including four in the final 15 seconds to seal the victory.
Finley’s long three-pointer broke an 82-82 tie with 2 minutes 45 seconds to play in the game. How appropriate that the former Maverick–and the most hated of the Spurs because of his protests after Terry’s punch–hit the critical shot.
“It’s not a personal vendetta for me,” Finley said. “Now that they start booing me, it makes me focus a lot more. I know now that I am the enemy and I just go out and play harder.”
Ginobili made two free throws with 15.2 seconds left that gave the Spurs an 89-86 lead. Curiously, Dirk Nowitzki threw up a desperate three-point attempt in the Mavericks’ final possession.
“Not much different than any of the other games,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Flip a coin and whichever way it lands, that’s the team that will win that night. The game belonged to either team.”
Duncan, playing with five fouls in the final 2:59 of the game, finished with 24 points. Ginobili led all scorers with 30 points and Finley had 16. Nowitzki finished with 26 points and 21 rebounds.
“We’re at home [for Game 7], so everybody thinks we’re going to win, but it’s not automatic,” Ginobili said.
The first half bore no resemblance to the previous three games, which were a veritable offensive clinic. The Spurs and the Mavericks came out tight and sloppy, grinding in the half-court and combining for 19 turnovers in the first half.
It did not help the Spurs that they quickly fell into foul trouble. Duncan picked up his third foul with 6:49 to play in the half, and was shooting 2-for-7 from the field at the time. Where was the Duncan who hit his first 12 shots in Game 5 and played, according to his coach, like an MVP? He was MIA along with Tony Parker, who was 2-for-10 in the first half.
The Spurs would have been lost were it not for Ginobili’s aggressiveness and 17 first-half points.
The Mavericks did not take advantage of their opponent’s mistakes. When Duncan took a seat with three fouls, Dallas was ahead by 4 and only finished the half ahead by 7.
They missed Terry’s speed, and when his backcourt mate, Devin Harris, struggled, the pace was ragged.
Terry had been averaging 18.2 points in the series. Jerry Stackhouse started in his place and hit three shots in a row in the first quarter before cooling off considerably.
For the Spurs, Finley surged with emotion every time he touched the ball and the fans booed him loudly. The Mavericks released him under the amnesty rule last summer, to save money on the luxury tax, although they are still paying his $14.6 million salary this season.
The fans booed him Friday for his role in Terry’s suspension.
“It looked like he was shot from a stray bullet from the Kennedy assassination,” Dallas owner Mark Cuban said of Finley’s reaction to Terry’s punch to the groin area.
But a close-fisted punch is an automatic suspension in the NBA, and after watching the replays from all angles on ESPN, Terry even admitted, “Wow, I really did get him a little bit.”
