Part One can be found here.
This is the closest the Blazers were able to get on Saturday night. After a Tony Parker jumper that put the Spurs up 64-45, the Blazers went on a 12-0 run in just 2' 42". This Nicolas Batum fade-away capped it and the score stood at 64-57. The Blazers on fire, the Moda Center fully alive, and you can just tell that Gregg Popovich is curious to see how his team would respond to being pushed for the first time in the series. No timeout, no yelling, no pep talk. Nothing to say, pacing the sideline, glancing at a pumped up fan enjoying his team coming to life from court-side seats. You have to think that Popovich was pleased, well pleased is probably the wrong word but you know what I mean, at the current situation. It isn't supposed to be easy. So he just waits to see how his guys will respond.
Manu Ginobili broke the scoring drought for the Spurs on a dime from Tony. The Manu takes advantage of the ball-watching Damian Lillard by moving to give Tony an outlet. Tony sees him, makes the pass, and Manu, who was without a made bucket to this point, knocks down a catch-and-shoot 15-footer.
Manu Ginobili was a game-high plus-24 for the game, but only shot 25% from the floor. His shot may not have been falling, but he made an impact by getting to the line, and creating for his teammates. Erler said it recently, and it's true - Manu makes everyone he plays with better. Here the Spurs run a pick-and-roll with Manu and Splitter, Tim sets a second screen, Lopez switches on to Gino, Lillard continues to give chase and Tim Duncan is wide-open. Not the worst outcome for the Blazers, Tim's jumper isn't exactly automatic. But the pressure was high, and Tim brings his A-game when his team needs him, so of course he knocks it down without touching rim.
The Manu/Splitter pick-and-roll. This was over when Batum went over the screen, making the play a two-on-one. Manu played a huge role in keeping the Blazers at bay, and here he delivers a perfectly placed bounce-pass to Splitter who then dunked it, kind of hard. Tiago's been fun to watch this postseason. Bill Simmons even apologized for writing that Splitter is overpaid, and acknowledged that he's been fantastic.
Man, these Blazers spend so much time flying to the ground I guess these Spurs bigs set the meanest screens around. Thomas Robinson gets a little too aggressive on his own end, showing off his power by throwing Tiago to the ground. That's an and-one. Nice work, Sparkles. Oh, Patty was pretty good too, hustling up the court, working with Manu and keeping the pace high.
Even when Manu was bad, he was so bad that it presented a unique opportunity for his teammate. Here Boris sees that Manu's shot is going to miss everything, tracks it like a center fielder and then with the shot clock under a second Boris gets a layup to go from behind the backboard. The big Frenchman finished plus-22 in his 23 minutes of work.
This one is incredible. Danny Green enters the ball to Boris who then flashes a glance at Patty and it's on. Bobo spins as Patty cuts to the farthest part of the corner getting just enough space from a bump on Wes from Timmy. Diaw delivers a beautiful wraparound pass and Mills' three is pure. This is next level basketball. It takes perfect timing from two players, pinpoint accuracy on what might be one of the toughest passes there is -- I mean it's a fully-extended 30-foot sidearm with heat that has a window of about a foot and a quarter second.
Bonus GIF Content: Pop with the subtle body english. I think even he's impressed.
Manu Ginobili continued to inflict damage off of screens, here finding Duncan after Robin Lopez leaves Tim to contestGino near the rim. Easy score for Timmy.
This is Manu's second and final field goal of the game. He uses a Duncan pick to gather speed before attacking the slow-footed Robin Lopez in the lane and finishes fairly easily going left.
Tony Parker, after dominating the Blazers in the first quarter, wanted to get back in the fight. He runs a PnR with Duncan, draws two defenders and dishes to the diving Duncan. Big Fun absorbs the contact from Lopez and finishes anyway, picking up the and-one.
With the lead back to a comfortable 14 the Spurs ate some clock and extended their lead by going to Duncan in the post. Tim backs Lopez down just a little and then spins over his right shoulder and burying a jumper.
Tony Parker uses a sneaky hesitation that gives him a half a step, and that's all he needs to beat Batum to the hole. Tony takes the push and finishes for the hoop and the harm.
Here we see Kawhi Leonard poke the ball away from Batum and then sprint the other direction as Tim picks up the loose ball. Tim delivers one of his fantastic outlet passes and Whi snatches the ball with one hand and takes the contact and hits the layup.
Bonus GIF content: Looks how fired up Manu is! That's fun to see.
This is just mean. Sorry Portland fans, you shouldn't have to suffer through Splitter knocking down a shot clock beating 20-footer that was as pure as could be.
That's it for this edition of GIF Breakdown. See you Pounders next time, hopefully after the Spurs close the series on Monday night. This team is so easy to root for.