Quick Cap
J.Gomez: The Spurs beat the Lakers on game two in San Antonio and successfully protected home court. Now they will travel to LA for game three, hoping to steal an away game and bring the series to the verge of completion.
To start the game Kawhi Leonard was aggressive and got the same amount of points in the first quarter that he got in all of game one. Manu Ginobili was also fantastic in the first half, scoring 12 points in ten minutes, and Tim Duncan provided the interior presence the Spurs needed. But the Lakers were not going away quietly and led by Dwight Howard, Pau Gasol and Steve Blake managed to get enough points to stay in the game. Nash didn't score efficiently but he had five first half assists. The Spurs' defense did a great job of staying physical and the good guys went into the break up eight, 56-48.
Then Tony Parker, who up until that point had struggled mightily, took over on offense and scored 24(!) second half points. Parker looked like his old self and got to the rim and to the line at will against the over matched Lakers guards, like we all knew he could. He was the offense on that second half, outscoring the rest of the team (24 to 22) and dishing out a couple of assists to boot.
The Lakers could not keep up--not when Metta World Peace, Steve Blake and Pau Gasol combine for 6-19 shooting from the floor in the second half. The Lakers need someone connecting from the perimeter to get Howard room to operate but couldn't get that from their supporting cast this time around.
There was a moment when LA got it close in the fourth quarter but it never felt like a comeback was likely. The Spurs played a complete game and got it done at home. Now it's time to get one in LA. If they do that, a banged up Lakers team will have every excuse it needs to fold.
Finally, Matt Bonner deserves a paragraph of his own. Winter Shoes The Red Mamba gave the Spurs some solid production off the bench for the second game in a row, scoring ten points and pulling down five boards to go with his three steals in 29 minutes. Now we only need Danny Green to start playing well in the playoffs. Game three will be played at Staples Center this Friday.
Fred Silva will have a recap up for you shortly.