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San Antonio Spurs Show Cavaliers What Passing Is (Video)

By Wes Goldberg

Nov 19, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili (20) drives to the basket in the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports
Nov 19, 2014; Cleveland, OH, USA; San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili (20) drives to the basket in the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Richard-USA TODAY Sports /
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The San Antonio Spurs showed a newly formed Cleveland Cavaliers team how basketball is done.

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Up 89-88 with 22 seconds left, the San Antonio Spurs didn’t do like a lot of NBA teams tend to do. In the final seconds, most teams run isolations for their best scorer. It’s something that has confused me for a long time, but I guess it allows for more control over the shot clock and, well, that’s what you pay the super stars the big bucks for.

The Spurs, forever the definition of team basketball, didn’t run the isolation on this final play. Gregg Popovich could have handed the reigns to Tony Parker or Manu Ginobili. Instead, three different guys touched the ball for the score that put a nail in the Cavs coffin. Check it out for yourself.

Manu brought the ball up and passed it to Parker, who passed to Tim Duncan who found Manu on the cut to the rim. What they got was an easy layup rather than the contested shot that is so often the result of the end-of-game iso.

Once again, the Spurs ran a clinic on what playing basketball is all about. A well designed play executed to perfection. Just what the doctor ordered.

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