Mavs Able Shut Down Spurs Big Three...Again

For the second straight game, the Dallas Mavericks found a way to handle the trio of Tony Parker (above), Tim Duncan, and Manu Ginobili. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)

In Game 4, the San Antonio Spurs were able to overcome a dreadful night from their best three players, thanks to a career game from George Hill.

In last night's game, the Spurs weren't as fortunate as the trio of Parker, Ginobili, and Duncan went a combined 11-31 from the field for a total of 36 points. Parker led San Antonio with 16 points off the bench, as only three Spurs scored in double-figures. Hill had 12 points and Duncan had 11 as nobody was really able to get it going offensively for San Antonio.

"We're upset with how we approached the game," said Ginobili, who scored only seven points in Game 5.


In the last two games Parker (10-24), Ginobili (6-23), and Duncan (4-18) combined to make only 20 out of 65 attempts (31 percent). This is good news for the Mavericks as either:

A: The Spurs are old and tired, and it's showing in the later games of the series.

B: The Mavericks defense has keyed-in on what's most important and they don't believe the other Spurs' players can beat them, on a consistent basis at least.

OR

C. It's a little bit of both as Dallas has shown a renewed effort on defense and the big-three for San Antonio has failed to make baskets they may normally make with fresher legs.

Either way, Game 6 will be huge and it will be interesting to see how the Mavericks approach it. It's going to be hard to keep the big-three of the Spurs down for the rest of the series, but making them work for each basket is always a plus.

(Portions of this article were taken from The Associated Press)