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TORONTO — The Toronto Raptors missed Sam Mitchell, sure.
But more important, the San Antonio Spurs had Manu Ginobili.
The Argentine star was the difference at the Air Canada Centre last night as the NBA champions squeezed out a 93-88 win over the Raptors, who fell to 27-23.
Mitchell missed his first game in four seasons as the Raptors' head coach after he returned home to Atlanta Monday because of the death of his father-in-law.
Toronto Raptors forward Anthony Parker has a shot blocked by San Antonio Spurs Tim Duncan and Fabricio Oberto during the first half of their game in Toronto on Monday. (Mike Cassese/Reuters)
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- Denver Nuggets
- New Jersey Nets
- San Antonio Spurs
- Toronto Raptors
- Andrea Bargnani
- Matt Bonner
- Chris Bosh
- Bruce Bowen
- Jose Calderon
- Vince Carter
- Carlos Delfino
- Tim Duncan
- T.J. Ford
- Manu Ginobili
- Rasho Nesterovic
- Fabricio Oberto
He won't be back until after the break for the all-star game, leaving his coaching duties to assistant coach Mike Evans last night and Jay Triano Wednesday night against the New Jersey Nets.
Evans might have drawn the short straw. Playing the eighth game in a nine-game trip, the Spurs, 33-17, were coming off a loss to the Boston Celtics on Sunday and seemed eager to make amends.
Either that or they were seeking some payback for losing a game to the Raptors in San Antonio on Dec. 28.
The Spurs jumped out to a 18-6 lead in the first quarter and led by as many as 17 points early in the third quarter before the Raptors began grinding their way back into contention.
"We could have laid down and just let the game continue to slip away from us, but they decided to suck it up and get down to playing some defence," Evans said.
The problem was Ginobili. He scored 21 points in the first half alone to help give the Spurs a 55-40 lead, but he was even more effective in the fourth quarter when he continuously stymied Toronto rallies. He hit shots or set up his teammates when the Raptors cut the lead to six points twice and to three two other times.
He also grabbed a key offensive rebound after missing a three-point attempt with the Spurs leading 91-88. He hustled to track down the long rebound (his 15th on the night) as Raptors forward Carlos Delfino leaked out for a fast break that never came.
"He can do everything, he can drive, he can rebound and he makes passes," said Delfino, his teammate on the Argentine national team. "When you face someone who is making every shot … at that point it is too hard to control because you don't know what to give."
The Spurs had problems of their own trying to contend with Jose Calderon. The Raptors' point guard scored a career-best 27 points.
Calderon realized that if he didn't try to score, the Raptors might not score at all, as the San Antonio held Toronto to just 34.2-per-cent shooting in the first half.
The Spurs closely guarded Chris Bosh, who scored only 11 points on 3-for-11 shooting, with one of the misses a wide-open foul-line jumper with 37 seconds left that would have cut the Spurs' lead to a single point.
Bosh was held to 10 points when the team played in San Antonio in December.
"They're a physical team," said Evans, who was the interim head coach of the Denver Nuggets in 2001-02. "They understand that C.B. is not one of the brawniest guys in the league, so they physically handle him — grabbing, pushing, whatever they have to do.
"That's a compliment to C.B. Whenever they had the ball, there were two or three guys coming at him trying to get the ball out of his hands."
For Bosh, the struggles started from the opening tip. The Spurs covered him with Fabricio Oberto, another Argentine national team star, who simply focused on trying to front Bosh and deny entry passes to him.
When the ball did come, the Spurs did, too, with hard, fast double teams. The first one frustrated Bosh to the point where he drew an offensive foul for elbowing.
"They're the world champs," Bosh said. "They're good at some stuff. It was tough enough getting the ball, and then when I got it where I wanted it the double team was coming and I didn't know where from. It wasn't the classic double team … but every time I got the ball there were guys coming."
Bosh had to leave the game in the first quarter after a knee-on-knee collision with Jacque Vaughn, starting at point guard for the Spurs in place of injured Tony Parker. He said he didn't think it would affect his availability for Wednesday night's game against New Jersey.
The Raptors also only got a handful of minutes from T.J. Ford, who left the game with his sore right wrist, which he hurt on Sunday in Minnesota against the Timberwolves.
