Geoff JohnsonAfter two games where the Lakers had a shot but lost the grip at the end, Los Angeles will welcome the Spurs in game three of the series, this Friday at 10:30 PM ET at the Staples Center.
Tony Parker had 28 points, and seven assists on Wednesday night, Tim Duncan and Kawhi Leonard had 16 points each and Manu Ginobili added 13 points with another good night for the Argentinean.
“I thought we played two pretty good games on the defensive end of the court back to back,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “That was our goal at the beginning of the season, and we did it for most of the year as I said, until maybe the last three weeks of the season it dissipated. We got it back for these two games.”
The Lakers have been in the battle, but they haven’t been able to close the basket for the Spurs late in games.
“They are just much more efficient than we are,” Los Angeles coach Mike D’Antoni said. “They are playing better than we are right now.”
“He’s playing very well right now,” D’Antoni said about Manu Ginobili. “There’s not a whole lot of adjustments; we try to push him to his weak hand and try to get up in him, but at some point, you just have to man up and just do the best you can.”
The Spurs remain favorites for game three; this time by 3.5 points. The Game total is set at 189.5
