SAN ANTONIO -- Sean Elliott's first game back in the NBA after a kidney transplant surprised his coach and his opponents.
It even startled Elliott himself."I felt good. I was surprised how I felt. I thought I wouldn't feel my legs to start the game," Elliott said, admitting he was nervous before the San Antonio Spurs' 94-79 victory over Atlanta on Tuesday.
Elliott completed his comeback seven months after undergoing a kidney transplant. He played 12 minutes, shot 1-for-3 from the field and thrilled the Alamodome crowd with a dramatic dunk.
Elliott missed a 22-foot jumper and a layup in the third quarter. Then, with a quick step around defender Roshown McLeod, he drove the lane and slammed the ball in with his right hand.
It was the kind of play he envisioned for months during his rehab.
"You always dream about that," Elliott said. "It was kind of in the back of my mind."
The dunk might have been more memorable, he said, than his famous off-balance 3-pointer that helped the Spurs win a crucial playoff game over Portland last year in the Western Conference finals on the way to winning the NBA title.
Most importantly, though, Elliott is back.
Despite his limited play, coach Gregg Popovich and the Spurs couldn't help but ponder the possibilities for the rest of the season.
"It's going to be interesting to see what we do next, to see what he can handle," Popovich said. "I think in the second half it was pretty much getting your team back -- having the championship team."
The Spurs don't plan to push Elliott for the sake of winning, the coach said.
But a few quality minutes could help the Spurs down the stretch, said David Robinson, who led the team Tuesday with 26 points, including 12 in the decisive fourth quarter.
"He looks great. His legs have got a lot of energy. He's bouncing around. Whatever minutes he can give us is a big lift," Robinson said.
The Hawks were impressed with Elliott's performance. Atlanta center Dikembe Mutombo simply smiled after Elliott's third-quarter dunk.
"I was surprised the way he dunked the ball," Mutombo said. "He has a lot of courage. I was really touched. The whole thing is amazing that someone can recover that fast to come back and do something they love -- play basketball."
Mutombo felt he was witnessing a historic event.
"Our children and grandchildren will hear about it," he said.
Though Elliott fell to the floor twice early in the game -- once in a rough encounter under the Spurs basket -- he kept playing, unfazed.
"You can see by my reaction it didn't bother me one bit. The first time I fell, I was laughing," he said.
Elliott's only basket sparked a 6-0 spurt for San Antonio, though Atlanta quickly recovered and pulled ahead 66-64 by the end of the third quarter.
The score remained close early in the fourth, but the Spurs moved ahead 76-75 on a basket by Robinson with 7:21 left. Robinson also scored the next five points, making it 81-75 with 3:40 remaining.
Atlanta got no closer the rest of the way.
McLeod said Elliott looked like "the old Sean Elliott to me."
"I was thinking he wasn't going to be that quick. He surprised me," McLeod said.
Jim Jackson scored 22 points for the Hawks, and Mutombo had 14 points and 12 rebounds. Avery Johnson added 22 points and 10 assists for the Spurs, and Tim Duncan had 21 points and 13 rebounds.
As the final seconds of the game ticked away, the fans shouted, "We want Sean! We want Sean!"
Elliott, 32 and in his 11th season, became the first pro athlete in a major sport to return to competition after a kidney transplant. He received a kidney from his older brother, Noel, in transplant surgery Aug. 16.
Elliott had focal glomerulosclerosis, a disease that prevents the kidneys from properly filtering waste from the blood. He announced last July -- just a month after the Spurs won the NBA championship -- that he needed a kidney transplant or faced the prospect of dialysis.
As he left the court Tuesday night, Elliott gave his brother a hug.
"He's given me a lot of freedom," Elliott said. "Without him, who knows where I am now."
Both Elliott and his brother said they hoped what they've done encourages other kidney transplant recipients and potential donors.
"I think it can definitely help a lot of people," Elliott said.