Ginobili, Spurs take 2-1 series lead over Mavs

[ATHENEA]

Ginobili, Spurs take 2-1 series lead over Mavs - NBA - Yahoo! Sports
Ginobili, Spurs take 2-1 series lead over Mavs

By PAUL J. WEBER
SAN ANTONIO (AP)—Bloody nose and all, Manu Ginobili(notes) wasn’t letting the Dallas Mavericks get ahead in this playoff series.

Playing with a bandage across his nose after getting popped by Dirk Nowitzki’s(notes) elbow, Ginobili returned to the game and helped the San Antonio Spurs hold on in a wild fourth quarter for a 94-90 win over Dallas on Friday night.
SAN ANTONIO - APRIL 23:Ginobili scored 11 of his 15 points in the fourth quarter with a possibly broken nose.

That detail wasn’t going to be known until after the game. What is certain is that the Spurs took a 2-1 lead by surviving the NBA’s best road team, and Nowitzki torching the Spurs for 35 points after a shaky Game 2.

Game 4 is Sunday in San Antonio.

Sunday is also when Duncan turns 34—but so far in this series, he’s looked practically ageless. He scored 25 points for the second straight game, and has the Spurs in position to possibly celebrate a commanding lead in this series if they can win on his birthday.

The Mavs will spend between now and then trying to figure out how to even this series. A start might be figuring out what happened to Nowitzki’s supporting cast.

Jason Terry(notes) scored 17 points and J.J. Barea had 14, but Caron Butler(notes) never left the bench in the second half and finished with two points.

Nowitzki made good on his vow to make the baskets he missed in Game 2. He shot 13 of 23 from the field and jump-started a 17-0 run in the third quarter that got the Mavs back into the game—and a lead for just the second time since Game 1.

The run came when Ginobili was out. Blood dripped from his nose after taking an inadvertent elbow from Nowitzki, who had jumped to take a shot. Ginobili left for the locker room and returned 5 minutes later.

When he did come back, the Spurs said it was “up to his ability to tolerate the pain.”

He managed just fine.

Tony Parker(notes) had 23 points off the bench while continuing to thrive in the sixth man role that Ginobili held for so many years. He hit a 20-footer to give the Spurs the lead for good with 2:34 left, then made another from the corner the next time down to push the lead to three.

That was as close as Dallas would get.

The Mavs must now lean on their NBA-best road record during the regular season to try and get a split before the series returns to Dallas for Game 5.

[Guille]

Talk about some serious cojones

[JWest]

When he did come back, the Spurs said it was “up to his ability to tolerate the pain.”

Balls of steel. There's no other explanation. Your nose packed with cotton, swallowing blood, breathing through your mouth, sprinting full speed, pain and still be effective and a play maker.

His contract was a bargain. "He's Manu Ginobili" said a smart man once.