The San Antonio Spurs managed to hang on and take Game 3 against the Houston Rockets on Friday night, despite playing on the road and despite being without starting point guard Tony Parker. Parker suffered a season-ending quad injury against the Rockets in Game 2.
The last time San Antonio played in a playoff game without Parker was in 2001 — over 16 years ago. Dejounte Murray, who filled in for Parker in his absence at starting point, was just four years old. The Spurs were sporting a starting lineup of Terry Porter, Antonio Daniels, Derek Anderson, Tim Duncan and David Robinson.
To sum it up, Friday’s Game 3 was the first time in a long time that the Spurs played a playoff game without Tony Parker.
“It’s going to be the first playoff game I play without him. It is a little bit strange, a little sad, too,” Manu Ginobili said before Game 3 last night (via ESPN’s Tim McMahon).
San Antonio would wind up winning 103-92. Ginobili was held scoreless in 15 minutes, but grabbed five rebounds and finished with a positive-three net rating on the night.
“It was different. We missed him,” Ginobili said afterwards. “We played a good game, we did well. But you could tell we were missing somebody. Hopefully we can mask it for as long as possible and keep playing well so it doesn’t show that much, but it’s un-hideable.”
Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili have been together with the Spurs for 15 straight seasons. They’ve gone to battle together several times, including five times in the NBA Finals. It’s understandable why Ginobili may call playing without Parker ‘sad’ or ‘strange’ — because it’s hardly ever happened before.
