
Manu Ginóbili was the star of Game One, turning in a virtuoso performance in the fourth quarter to lead the Spurs to victory. Ginobili scored 15 of his 26 points in the fourth quarter to complement a huge game by Tim Duncan (24 points, 17 rebounds). Ginobili, who in the previous summer led Argentina in points and assists en route to Olympic gold, took over in the final period. He scored eight points in a decisive 12-2 surge that gave the Spurs a 67-55 lead, then throttled a push by the Pistons with a swooping dunk, 3-pointer and running hook for an 81-67 advantage with less than two minutes to go. Having been idle for a week, the Spurs opened the game in lackluster fashion - in the first eight minutes the Spurs trailed 19-7 - but were able to fight back and stabilize the game. It may have happened that Detroit's more recent play led to fourth quarter fatigue which enabled the Spurs' strong fourth quarter; in any case, the Spurs prevailed in the first contest.
NBA
San
Antonio
Spurs
Detroit
Pistons
Finals
2005
Carlos
Arroyo
Chauncey
Billups
Elden
Campbell
Delfino
Ronald
Dupree
Darvin
Ham
Richard
Hamilton
Lindsey
Hunter
Horace
Jenkins
mcdyess
Darko
Milicic
Tayshaun
Prince
Ben
Wallace
Rasheed
Tim
Duncan
Manu
Ginóbili
Tony
Parker
Bruce
Bowen
Nazr
Mohammed
Robert
Horry
Glenn
Robinson
Brent
Barry
Radoslav
Nesterovic
Devin
Brown
Beno
Udrih
Massenburg
Basketball