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TONIGHT'S NOTES |
Tim Duncan made the game-winning shot with 0.5 seconds left off of a feed from Manu Ginobili.
Ray Allen’s 3-point attempt at the buzzer missed.
During the fourth quarter, there were nine ties and five lead changes. Neither team led by more than four points in the period.
San Antonio advanced to the Western Conference Finals for the fourth time during the Tim Duncan-Gregg Popovich era. The Spurs will face the winner of the Dallas-Phoenix series.
The Sonics lost for the first time at KeyArena during the playoffs. They finished 5-1 at home.
Ray Allen led the Sonics with 25 points. Allen averaged 21. 5 points in the series. He committed a playoffs high six turnovers.
Antonio Daniels scored 22 points, hitting 8-of-10 free throws. Daniels was the only Sonics player to score double-figures in all six games of the series.
Despite shooting just 1-for-13 during the first three quarters, Duncan led the Spurs with 26 points. 12 of those points came in the fourth quarter, when he shot 5-for-8.
Duncan was 14-for-17 from the free-throw line. He averaged 25.2 points during the series.
Spurs guards Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili were limited to 27 points on 9-for-19 shooting. They committed a combined nine turnovers.
When San Antonio took the lead during the second quarter, it was the first lead change since the fourth quarter of Game 3.
The Spurs outscored the Sonics 32-22 during the second quarter. San Antonio went on a 12-1 run midway through the period.
Seattle answered with an 11-0 run during the third quarter.
During the third period, San Antonio shot just 6-for-20 (30.0%) and committed eight turnovers.
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May 19, 2005
SONICS COACH 
NATE MCMILLAN:
On 
Ray Allen's final shot:
I was surprised that he was able to get the ball with
Tim (Duncan) all over him. From my view it looked like it had a chance.
On what he said to the team after the game:
I’m proud of these guys. They committed all season long to playing the season the right way. They sacrificed different parts of their game to become a team this season. They committed to each other, they committed to this organization, to this city. All season long. A lot of people had doubts about what type of team we would be. We played the game the right way and one thing we talked about all season long was it wasn’t about winning and losing. It may sound crazy, being in a contract year, but it was all about how these guys played and how hard they worked out on the floor. If there was a way we could go out, tonight would be the way I would draw it up. We gave everything we had and left everything out on the floor. It came down to San Antonio and (Manu) Ginobili making a heckava play to find Tim at the end. This team fought and gave all that it had. It was not the way we wanted to end it but we gave it our best shot tonight.
On the mood of the team:
Just total disappointment. This team really wanted to move on tonight. As I told them I wasn’t really ready to address those guys tonight about the end of the season. We felt like we had a chance if we just did some things better. I felt tonight that we did that. Our defense was much better; we were good at rebounding the ball. Offensively, we had movement and did the things we needed to do to give ourselves a chance. We did that and we were confident that we could win this game and go back to San Antonio.
On the injuries that struck during this series:
We know we were without some guys in 
Rashard (Lewis) and 
Vladimir (Radmanovic). But injuries are a part of the game and we know that we needed those guys but what can you do? You go out there and play. I felt like all season long we’ve had people step up. Injuries are a part of it. Both guys wanted to be out there playing but there injuries wouldn’t allow them to.
On getting contributions from numerous players:
I try to give all the players confidence. Tonight they were committing two guys to Ray, a lot of times they were double-teaming him. 
Antonio (Daniels) did a nice job of making reads. I thought 
Luke Ridnour did a nice job in the pick-and-roll of making reads. 
(Damien) Wilkins coming off the bench had some nice plays. 
Danny Fortson, 
Nick Collison, all those guys I thought did their part making plays and taking advantage of what the defense was giving them on the offensive end of the floor. I encourage guys when they’re out on the floor. They have to play within the system, and be aggressive, and I thought our guys did that. That’s how we played all season long.
GUARD RAY ALLEN:
On whether he'll be back next season:
That’s been my goal the whole time. It’s tough to think about now. A lot of people were asking me if this was my last game but I plan on being in this uniform. That’s my goal.
On the season:
We played great basketball. We beat some good teams and had a lot of fun. This team genuinely liked each other. We laughed and joked at each other. Sometimes a coach pushes you so you can come together. We shared our emotions together as a group.
On overachieving:
At the beginning of the year most of the people said that the Sonics are going to finish .500 and they won’t make the playoffs this particular year. We want to hear what people say about us. So many things were said about what we weren’t going to do this year. We’ve had so many highlights this year. Whatever people say about us at the beginning of the year, we’re the ones who have to do it on the court. We believed in ourselves. We were the underdogs every game all year long. We had fun.
CENTER DANNY FORTSON:
On overachieving:
We just came together and everyone played hard.
On the season:
It's too hard right now. There were a lot of good things that happened right now. It’s just terrible. I really thought honestly we could go all the way. You don’t want it to end it like that. A chip pass to Tim Duncan. It just hurts. It hurts. It’s terrible. Maybe tomorrow I’ll have better answers. It’s going to be tough to drive home tonight.
SAN ANTONIO COACH GREGG POPOVICH:
On the series:
First, it’s very important to congratulate Nate and his players and his staff and the organization on what they did this season. Everybody knows what people were saying at the beginning of the year. What these guys accomplished was fantastic. The series was really difficult for us and they were undermanned. They don’t even have all their guys. It goes without saying that they were fantastic in everything they did and we are thrilled that we escaped the series. That’s basically what we did, we escaped. They deserve a lot of credit for going through what they did here at the end.
On the game:
Both teams were physical and got after it. It was a great playoff game. We were fortunate enough to execute enough down the stretch and get a couple of scores and we ended up winning the game. It was a heck of a team effort.
On Duncan's ankle:
That ankle is probably going to be jelly tomorrow. I can’t believe that he kept playing on it. He would have had me assassinated if I kept him out any longer than I did. I wanted to have the trainer look at it. It’s going to be sore and he showed a lot of guts playing through that darn thing.
Great players continue to compete. That really separates players. A lot of players that have bad games really let it get to them. Timmy understands that he has a responsibility to that whole group. His leadership and continued competitiveness is important. You can get that he was frustrated but he continued to play for the team and do all the other things that are necessary. He came up with a huge one at the end.
GUARD MANU GINOBILI:
On the last play:
My biggest concern was to not leave them a shot. I wanted to consume all the time possible. If I could finish fine, if not fine the open guy. I’m very happy that Tim could make those shot in the quick time he had.
GUARD TONY PARKER:
On the Sonics:
They play hard and they play together. They are good competition. It was a tough series with a lot of physical contact. They are very physical and it was a great series. I give a lot of credit to Seattle.
2004-05 Postgame Quotes/Notes Archive
