Spurs hold off Cavs to go up 2-0
(Reuters)Updated: 2007-06-11 13:37 SAN ANTONIO - The San Antonio Spurs held off a late charge by the Cleveland Cavaliers to record a 103-92 victory on Sunday and take a 2-0 lead in the NBA finals.
San Antonio was cruising with a 29-point second-half lead but Cleveland outscored the Spurs 25-6 over the first seven minutes of the final frame to slice the advantage to 95-87.
 San Antonio Spurs' Tim Duncan (L) reaches to tip in the ball with his teammate Francisco Elson (C) as Cleveland Cavaliers' Donyell Marshall watches in the fourth quarter of Game 2 of the NBA Finals basketball series in San Antonio, Texas, June 10, 2007. [Reuters] |
San Antonio guard Manu Ginobili, however, was fouled while hitting a three-point shot and his four-point play hiked the Spurs lead to 101-89 with just 2:24 to go.
Guard Tony Parker paced the Spurs with 30 points, hitting 13 of 20 shots on a variety of jumpers and running one-handers through the lane. Ginobili finished with 25 points with forward Tim Duncan adding 23 on nine of 16 shooting.
LeBron James scored 25 points but was ineffective until Cleveland's late charge. Cleveland outscored San Antonio 30-14 in the final period but was unable to complete the comeback.
The best-of-seven series shifts to Cleveland for games three, four and, if necessary, five.
San Antonio was so dominant in the opening half that few would have bet against them going on to win their third championship in the last five years.
The Spurs went on a 12-0 run with James on the bench to stretch a 16-13 first-quarter lead to 28-16. James played only three minutes of the opening quarter after picking up his second foul with 9:05 left in the period.
The Spurs were dominant in every statistical category, much
to the delight of the near 19,000 fans in the AT&T Center, and limited James to 13 points at the break with some double-teaming defense.
The Cavaliers shot only 26.8 percent in the opening half, including just one of eight from three-point range.
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