Ginobili Dominates, Leads Spurs Over Raptors

Manu Ginobili poured in 34 points to lead the San Antonio Spurs to a 93-88 win Monday over the Toronto Raptors, who were playing without head coach Sam Mitchell.

Jose Calderon scored a career-high 27 points and added six assists to top the Raptors (27-23), who had assistant Mike Evans calling the plays in place of Mitchell, who flew to Atlanta following the death of his father-in-law.

Andrea Bargnani finished with 12 points, while Chris Bosh and Carlos Delfino added 11 points apiece, and Bosh added eight rebounds.

Tim Duncan added 22 points and 13 boards for the Spurs (33-17).

The Raptors have struggled with inconsistency — after every couple of steps forward it seems there’s an inevitable step backward. And that was the case Monday.

Toronto was coming off a 105-82 dismantling of the Timberwolves in Minnesota the previous night, but looked sloppy and disorganized against an albeit much stronger San Antonio squad. The Spurs led from the opening whistle, and were up by as many as 18 in the first half before taking a 68-60 advantage into the fourth quarter.

The Raptors rallied in the fourth, bringing the capacity crowd of 19,800 at the Air Canada Centre to life. A fadeaway jumper by Bosh with 1:20 left cut the Spurs’ lead to three points, but the Raptors all-star missed on a basket the next time down the floor.

Ginobili missed on a long shot attempt, and then in a bad case of Raptors ball-watching, the Spurs guard raced in uncontested to gather up his own rebound. Ginobili was fouled and made both free throws, sealing the Spurs’ victory.

Mitchell, meanwhile, won’t be back with the team until after this weekend’s all-star break.

Evans was the interim head coach of the Denver Nuggets for part of the 2001-02 season.

“(Mitchell) said `Do what you do,”‘ Evans said before the game. “We’ll try to do what Sam would have us do, play the guys that we’ve been playing, keep the rotations pretty much the same. This is Sam’s team, I’m just stepping in thankfully just until he gets back from the all-star break.”

Mitchell would not have been pleased with his team’s performance. No one on Toronto’s roster seemed capable of slowing down Ginobili, who scored from all over the court.

The Spurs outrebounded Toronto 46-34, and outshot the Raptors 48 per cent to 44 for Toronto. Bosh and Bargnani both struggled with their shots, each shooting 3-for-11 from the field.

Calderon was one bright spot on the night, topping his previous career high of 24 points, and shooting 12-for-17 from the field.

T.J. Ford, who had three strong games after returning from a 24-game absence, was playing with a sore wrist after getting hurt in Sunday’s game in Minnesota. The guard played just eight minutes, finishing with two points and an assist.

The Spurs dominated from the outset, shooting 60 per cent from the field in the first quarter and outrebounding the lackadaisical Raptors 16-4. A three-pointer by Bruce Bowen gave San Antonio an 18-6 lead midway through the quarter. Toronto pulled within four points late in the quarter, and trailed 27-21 heading into the second.

The Spurs continued their domination in the second outscoring the home team 28-19 and going ahead by as much as 18 points late in the quarter. A three-pointer by Moon with about a minute to go cut the Spurs’ advantage to 55-40 at halftime.

Calderon led the way with 10 points in the third as the Raptors battled back, outscoring the Spurs 20-13 in the quarter and trailing 68-60 with a quarter left to play.