There was nothing flashy about the play or the shot. It was basic, fundamental basketball. Old school.
Just the way Tim Duncan likes it.
Duncan made a wide-open 19-foot jumper just before the final horn sounded, giving the San Antonio Spurs a 94-92 victory Monday night over the Cleveland Cavaliers, who dropped their third straight.
Duncan's big shot concluded a night that started miserably for the All-Star forward. He missed his first seven shots and didn't score in the first 19 minutes. But with the game on the line, Duncan took a pass from Tony Parker, gathered himself and calmly knocked down his game-winner without a hand in his face.
"We run that play a billion times," Duncan said. "So we're very comfortable with it. The shot felt good. Halfway there, I knew it was."
After going 0-for-7, Duncan went 9-for-10 from the floor, finishing with 20 points and 11 rebounds. Parker added 19 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists — none bigger than his short pass to Duncan after drawing Cavs center Zydrunas Ilgauskas on a pick-and-roll.
"I couldn't make anything early," said Duncan, who went 9-for-28 in a loss at Cleveland last season. "I had some good shots and good looks, but nothing was going down for me. I was just going to stay with it."
During his final timeout, San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich set up the play with Duncan as the first option. As it turned out, there was no need to go over any others.
"Tony ran it perfectly," Popovich said. "He was to look first to Tim, then if he wasn't open drive to the middle and either take it to the rim and try to create or find (Brent) Barry in the corner."
Ilgauskas had 26 points and LeBron James finished with 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists for the Cavaliers, who have lost four of five and are entering a tough stretch of upcoming games.
San Antonio's Manu Ginobli, who finished with 17 points, could have put the Spurs up by four points, but missed a pair of free throws with 19.2 seconds to go.
The Cavaliers called timeout and after an inbounds play, Spurs center Rasho Nesterovic left Ilgauskas wide open underneath. James whipped a pass to Cleveland's big man, whose dunk tied it 92-92 with 14.2 seconds remaining.
"We had two guys on LeBron because they were scared to death of him and rightfully so," Popovich said. "It was a mistake."
The Spurs still had more than enough time to give their star a chance to win it.
With Duncan setting a pick near the top of the key on Jeff McInnis, Parker dribbled to the right side and when Ilgauskas drifted over, Parker passed the ball back to Duncan with more than 2 seconds left.
"It was a perfect pick and roll," Ginobli said.
Cleveland's defense was late rotating toward Duncan, who had time to set his feet, measure the distance and drill it. San Antonio's bench erupted onto the Gund Arena floor and swarmed Duncan.
"I thought I was one-on-one with Parker and didn't even see the screen," McInnis said. "He kind of blindsided me. But he still had to make the shot, and he did."
The shot silenced the crowd of 18,216, and was a fitting ending to Gordon Gund's ownership of the Cavaliers.
On Tuesday, the team will officially be turned over to Detroit mortgage magnate Dan Gilbert, who paid $375 million for the NBA franchise. Gund, who bought the Cavs for $20 million in 1983, will remain a minority owner.
During his 22 seasons with the Cavaliers, Gund's teams were beaten by some big shots, most notably Michael Jordan's buzzer-beater in the 1989 Eastern Conference finals for the Chicago Bulls.
"We were able to take them down to the wire," James said. "That was a great effort for us."
KNICKS 117, LAKERS 115 (OT): At New York, Tim Thomas scored a season-high 35 points, and New York recovered after blowing a 10-point lead in the final 46 seconds of regulation to defeat Los Angeles.
The victory was the third straight for the Knicks, matching their longest winning streak of the season. New York remained in last place in the Atlantic Division but pulled within five games of the first-place Boston Celtics.
Kobe Bryant forced overtime by making a 3-pointer with 4.4 seconds left in regulation, but he couldn't come up with another big play at the end.
Michael Sweetney tied his career high with 19 points and grabbed a career-high 12 rebounds, and Kurt Thomas had 15 points and 12 rebounds as New York's front line dominated.
Bryant had 30 points, eight assists, five rebounds and seven turnovers, and Lamar Odom had 26 points and 15 rebounds for the Lakers.
MAVERICKS 90, HORNETS 86: At Dallas, Dirk Nowitzki scored 28 points, including a key jumper and two free throws in the final minute, and Dallas hung on to beat New Orleans. Marquis Daniels added 13 points for the Mavericks, who've won seven of eight.
Dallas struggled most of the night before coming on at the end to beat the Hornets for the 12th straight time. Nowitzki, the league's third-leading scorer who's been bothered by a sore right hamstring, had 13 points in the final quarter. He went 9-of-19 from the field and had 11 rebounds.