Nonetheless, those two brought excitement as they usually do. The Pacers evened the series against Miami, as they've managed to get one of the road.
On the other hand, the veteran Spurs started their series versus the Clippers nicely. They opened it up with a nice win and they showed plenty of excellence.
There were some players who marked the day that's already behind us. Who ranks on top? Without further ado, let's start.
5. David West
David was solid inside. He found his way to the line, where he made the most of his trips and was great on the glass too while being decent defensive presence inside the paint.
West poured in 16 points, pulled down 10 rebounds, blocked two shots, dished out a dime, shot 5-13 from the field, 6-8 from the stripe in 41 minutes.
When all things are taken in consideration, he wasn't bad at all.
4. Manu Ginobili
Manu provided the needed spark off the bench for San Antonio. He gave them the needed scoring, added a great all-around production among the rest as well.
Ginobili scored 22 points, dished out three dimes, pulled down three boards, committed two turnovers, shot 6-13 from the field, 3-8 from deep and 7-8 from the stripe in 27 minutes.
Given in consideration, the amount of minutes and efficiency he had throughout the entire game, he definitely played greatly overall.
3. Eric Bledsoe
They turn to 6'1 guard off the bench, Eric Bledsoe to lead. With him handling the duties, his aggressiveness and competitiveness, the Clippers are a tough opponent.
Bledsoe scored 23 points, had five rebounds, four assists, three steals, one block, two turnovers, shot 10-16 from the field, 1-3 from deep and 2-2 from the stripe in 27 minutes.
Unfortunately, his teammates didn't follow him and they lost the key. Nonetheless, Eric played well enough to get the credit. He has to be applauded for the effort.
2. LeBron James
LeBron was aggressive throughout the game, as he played quite nicely on both sides of the court. The stats back up his excellence.
James scored 28 points, grabbed nine boards, dished out five assists, had six steals, lost two balls, shot 10-22 from the field, 0-4 from deep, 8-13 from the stripe in 43 minutes.
That's a terrific stat line. However, he and his Heat failed short late, which is why they lost the game.
1. Tim Duncan
And he delivered in a way like he used to in his younger days. They relied on him in the post, where he was absolutely brilliant.
The Clippers had no answer for his brilliance inside. Timmy impacted the game on defense as always, found the open teammate, came up huge and confirmed his excellence.
The stats back that up. Tim scored 26 points, grabbed 10 boards, blocked two shots, recorded two steals, dished out two assists, had a turnover, shot 12-20 from the field, 2-2 from the stripe in 35 minutes.
Duncan still proved that he's the leader for his Spurs. They'll have to hope he'll keep playing like this, if they want to win the title badly.
Darko Mihajlovski is a columnist at FootBasket. He also contributes to Hoops-Nation. You can read more about him at our Staff page.
