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Kerr leads Spurs to NBA finals against Nets
Dallas, May 31: San Antonio are through to the NBA finals where they will face Eastern Conference champions the New Jersey Nets. The Spurs` Steve Kerr came off the bench and hit three 3-pointers to help the Spurs to a 90-78 comeback win over the Dallas Mavericks and a 4-2 overall victory in their Western Conference final series.
Dallas, May 31: San Antonio are through to the NBA finals where they will face Eastern Conference champions the New Jersey Nets. The Spurs' Steve Kerr came off the bench and hit three 3-pointers to help the Spurs to a 90-78 comeback win over the Dallas Mavericks and a 4-2 overall victory in their Western Conference final series.
The 37-year-old Kerr nailed the three 3-pointers in Dallas on Thursday (May 29) as the Spurs scored 23 straight points in the fourth quarter.
San Antonio, who won the NBA finals in 1999, will welcome the New Jersey Nets in Game One at the SBC Center on Wednesday. It will be the first NBA Finals matchup between two former ABA teams.
With Tim Duncan struggling and Tony Parker playing with a stomach flu, the Spurs looked flat and trailed by as many as 15 points in the third quarter and 71-58 after a jumper by Nick Van Exel of Dallas with 10:53 to play.
But after Duncan made 1-of-2 free throws 13 seconds later, the Spurs' wing players got hot from the outside. Manu Ginobili nailed a 3-pointer and Stephen Jackson back-to-back shots from the arc to pull San Antonio within 71-68 with 8:53 left.
Kerr then tied the contest with a 3-pointer with 7:12 left, added another to put San Antonio ahead for good, 74-71, with 6:28 left, and connected on a third shot from the arc with 5:14 to play to make it 79-71. Ginobili capped the incredible 23-0 burst with a pair of free throws with 3 1/2 minutes to go to give San Antonio an 81-71 advantage.
The Spurs outscored the Mavericks by 34-9 in the final 12 minutes, with Dallas scoring the final four points of the game in the last minute with the result not in doubt.
Jackson scored a playoff career-high 24 points, Duncan contributed 18 with 11 rebounds and Malik Rose 12 and 11 for the Spurs, who won each of their three games in Dallas in the six-game series.
Kerr, who had scored just two points in 13 minutes in the playoffs, scored four in 13 minutes in Game Six. Van Exel scored 19 points and Walt Williams 17 for Dallas, who played their third straight game without injured All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki.
After the game Kerr said: "This is one of the best nights of my career, I mean it ranks right up there with anything that happened in Chicago just for the fact that it's, that I'm 37. I wondered if I'd ever have a moment like this and one of the things I told myself at the beginning of this year was, I might not have a great year, I might not score a lot of points but there is always a chance to have a moment, just one moment and tonight was one of those and it just feels great."
Mavericks head coach Don Nelson said: "The fourth quarter we just couldn't get a shot, a good shot or bad shot to go in. I think they just turned it up to a different level-it was amazing really-I thought they were really working hard all game, so were we but for a stretch there they made a couple of baskets and it just ignited their defense and we couldn't score-I mean it's really that simple. We were running the same things we ran all game and with the same people and they basically just shut us down."
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Kerr then tied the contest with a 3-pointer with 7:12 left, added another to put San Antonio ahead for good, 74-71, with 6:28 left, and connected on a third shot from the arc with 5:14 to play to make it 79-71. Ginobili capped the incredible 23-0 burst with a pair of free throws with 3 1/2 minutes to go to give San Antonio an 81-71 advantage.
The Spurs outscored the Mavericks by 34-9 in the final 12 minutes, with Dallas scoring the final four points of the game in the last minute with the result not in doubt.
Jackson scored a playoff career-high 24 points, Duncan contributed 18 with 11 rebounds and Malik Rose 12 and 11 for the Spurs, who won each of their three games in Dallas in the six-game series.
Kerr, who had scored just two points in 13 minutes in the playoffs, scored four in 13 minutes in Game Six. Van Exel scored 19 points and Walt Williams 17 for Dallas, who played their third straight game without injured All-Star forward Dirk Nowitzki.
After the game Kerr said: "This is one of the best nights of my career, I mean it ranks right up there with anything that happened in Chicago just for the fact that it's, that I'm 37. I wondered if I'd ever have a moment like this and one of the things I told myself at the beginning of this year was, I might not have a great year, I might not score a lot of points but there is always a chance to have a moment, just one moment and tonight was one of those and it just feels great."
Mavericks head coach Don Nelson said: "The fourth quarter we just couldn't get a shot, a good shot or bad shot to go in. I think they just turned it up to a different level-it was amazing really-I thought they were really working hard all game, so were we but for a stretch there they made a couple of baskets and it just ignited their defense and we couldn't score-I mean it's really that simple. We were running the same things we ran all game and with the same people and they basically just shut us down."
Bureau Report