"It was a weird kind of night for the Spurs. They were able to thump the defending two-time world champion Los Angeles Lakers by 15 points despite Manu Ginobili and Tim Duncan combining for 11 points on a miserable 4-for-19 collective shooting night.

"You would have never thought if anybody had told you before the game that Tim and Manu would combine for 11 points that the Spurs would beat the Lakers by double digits," Spurs guard Gary Neal said. "They would have looked at you like you were crazy."

But the Spurs won easily and didn't need their two key players to be very active. Ginobili was battling a sore throat and hit only 3 of 12 from the field, scoring nine points despite being blanked for more than 32 minutes during the middle of the game.

"I was just talking about it in the shower," Ginobili said. "We went 4 for 19 between Tim and me. But we were sticking around and still there. (Spurs guard) Tony (Parker) was great, and we made a couple of shots that changed the game. I don't think it's happened many times, that between us, where we both shot so bad." "