You know what they say here in Texas: Why is it called tourist season if we can’t shoot at them?
The visiting Cleveland Cavaliers were just barely moving targets for most of Sunday’s game, and the San Antonio Spurs didn’t miss much or very often in running up a 27-point lead entering the fourth quarter in the shootout at the I’m OK and You’re Not Corral, also known as the AT&T Center.
The result was a 103-92 Spurs victory and a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals. Tony Parker scored 30 points and Tim Duncan contributed 23 points, nine rebounds and eight assists for the Spurs.
LeBron James overcame early foul trouble and led the Cavs with 25 points. Game 3 is Tuesday in Cleveland.
And the Cavs really are going to have to make some adjustments this time … maybe tell the Spurs Game 3 is Wednesday?
There are wonders of the world, like great pyramids, purple mountains’ majesty and TV coverage of Paris Hilton. The Cavs could have created another with the way they came back to get within eight points with just under five minutes left.
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“That’s why sometimes I don’t like to have a 20-point lead,” Parker said. “We have to keep playing and be aggressive. I think in the four games we played against them (including the regular season), we lost the fourth quarters.
“When you get a big lead, you’re not playing with the same intensity. You don’t get on the loose balls, and we can’t play like that. We need to play better in that situation.”
But there haven’t been many situations in which the dominant Spurs haven’t played well.
They got a jumper from Parker and a three-pointer and a foul for a four-point play from Manu Ginobili to stave off potential embarrassment. Ginobili scored 25 points off the bench.
You know what the Cavs say: It’s darkest before the dawn of the fourth quarter.
“We got too overconfident,” Ginobili said.
Outside of that rally, when most of the Spurs seemed to be watching the game at the nearby Starbucks, the Cavs haven’t looked like they belong in the same arena with San Antonio.”Our effort has to be better,” coach Mike Brown acknowledged. “Our aggression has to be higher. We’ve got to play harder than we’re playing right now. The aggression we’re bringing and the lack of poise we’re having just isn’t good enough.”
Neither are most of the Cavs’ players, and that appears to be the big problem.
Larry Hughes is shooting 1-for-10 in the two games. He figures to be replaced by Daniel Gibson, who is 13-for-21. Gibson has been the Cavs’ best shooter and had 15 points Sunday.
Center Zydrunas Ilgauskas is 4-for-16 for 11 points, nine of them coming in Game 2.
This one, much like Game 1, was essentially over soon after the start as the Spurs jumped to a 28-17 first-quarter lead. They led 58-33 at halftime, an improvement over Game 1 when they took a 40-35 halftime lead and built on it.
Maybe the Cavaliers are getting more consistent.
They’d been complaining about third-quarter struggles earlier in their playoff run; now they have to worry about the first and second quarters as well.
This time James got into quick foul trouble. Without him the Cavs have little experience running a real offense and appeared helpless.
The Spurs jumped ahead 16-6 five minutes into the game. Parker busted out after another Ilgauskas miss from about 6 inches and beat the Cavs for a layup.
The way it was going, if Parker was playing in the East, he might be described as the next Michael Jordan.
The Cavs closed within 16-13 on a Gibson three with 3:50 left in the first quarter, when the Spurs decided enough was enough.
Ginobili hit a three, Francisco Elson took a driving dropoff pass from Brent Barry for a slam and Barry hit a three. Suddenly it was a 12-0 run, and bye-bye Cavs.
But hey, the Spurs just held serve, as the cliche goes, and as the Cavs noted, they were down 2-0 to Detroit in the conference finals.
They were like the guy with one foot in a bucket of boiling water and another in a bucket of ice water and saying on average he felt comfortable.
Yeah, no problem.
And the Spurs were ahead 2-0 on the Pistons in 2005 before going to seven games. But it’s difficult to see parallels beyond the numbers.
“We’re definitely still confident,” James said. “It doesn’t matter if you lose by one or by 30 with us. We’ve been down 2-0 before.”
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It’s their story, and they’re sticking with it. For now.