Brent Barry made a 3-pointer that hit the rim twice, went high and fell through with four seconds left in regulation, then Manu Ginobili carried San Antonio to a 128-119 victory over Sacramento on Tuesday in Game 2 of their first-round series.
Ginobili led the Spurs with 32 points. He also had nine assists. Tony Parker was far from the speedy dominator he was in the opener, but still produced 22 points and 10 assists.
Barry scored 22 and shot 8-of-12, including 4-of-7 on 3-pointers. Tim Duncan, playing on his 30th birthday, had 14 points and 13 rebounds.
PHOTO: AFP
Bonzi Wells made nine of 10 shots in the first half, putting in his only miss, and finished with 28 points and 12 rebounds. He fouled out with 17 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim was 12-of-19 for 27 points with nine rebounds. Kevin Martin, starting for the suspended Ron Artest, scored a career-high 26.
The Spurs lead the series 2-0, with Game 3 scheduled for tomorrow in Sacramento.
PHOTO: AP
Wizards 89, Cavaliers 84
At Cleveland, Gilbert Arenas scored 30 points, Antawn Jamison added 21 and Washington bottled up LeBron James to even the Eastern Conference series with Cleveland at one game apiece.
Caron Butler added 21 points and was Washington's primary defender on James, who recorded a triple-double in his playoff debut but played like a mere mortal in his second postseason game as a pro.
James finished with 26 points on 7-of-25 shooting, but matched his career high with 10 turnovers and made some mental errors, including a costly one late when he made an out-of-bounds save under his own basket that was picked off by Arenas for an easy layup.
The series shifts to the Verizon Center for Game 3 in the best-of-seven series tomorrow.
Nets 90, Pacers 75
At East Rutherford, New Jersey, Vince Carter rebounded from a dismal shooting performance to score 33 points and lead New Jersey over foul-plagued and undermanned Indiana, evening their first-round series at a game each.
Richard Jefferson added 21 points and Nenad Krstic had 20 points and 10 rebounds as New Jersey avoided losing the first two games at home.
Game 3 is at Indianapolis, Indiana today.
Jason Kidd added six points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds in a game the Pacers probably felt was decided a little too much by an officiating crew that included Violet Palmer, the first female to referee a postseason game.
Jermaine O'Neal finished with 12 points on 3-for-12 shooting and five fouls for the Pacers. Anthony Johnson, who hit two game-winning free throws in Sunday's 90-88 victory, led the Pacers with 17. Fred Jones added 13.
Avery Johnson was honored as the NBA's coach of the year Tuesday after leading the Dallas Mavericks to a 60-win season in his first full season as coach.
That matched the team record for victories, first set three years ago when he played for the team.
While the 2002-03 team was known for its scoring, Johnson transformed the Mavericks into a defensive squad. Dallas ranked in the league's top 10 in scoring and points allowed, ranking higher in the defensive category.
After the Mavericks won 60 games in 2003, they didn't put Johnson on their playoff roster. Instead, he played the role of a player-coach during practices that postseason and sat with the coaching staff on the bench during games. Coach Don Nelson already had let Johnson run some practices and considered the "Little General" a possible successor.
Dirk Nowitzki, an NBA MVP candidate this season, and Adrian Griffin are the only current Mavericks who were teammates of Johnson in 2002-2003.
"Avery's done a great job with us, preparing us every single night, teaching all the little things over the whole season and really turned the franchise around into a defensive ballclub first," Nowitzki said on Tuesday. "He's done a great job, so he deserves a lot of credit."
Dallas plays Game 2 of its first-round Western Conference series against Memphis on Wednesday. The Mavericks won the first game.
Johnson retired as a player in 2004, became Nelson's top assistant, and replaced him as head coach in March 2005.
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