Double Ws in Double Overtime

Double overtime victory.

Twice, in two consecutive nights.

On the road, no less.

It's never been done in the NBA before tonight. But my Spurs pulled off the back-to-back sweep against the hottest team in the league. They did it without All-Star Tim Duncan, too.

It's the most hopeful weekend us Spurs fans have enjoyed in quite awhile. Not like the Saturday night in San Antonio with the hot Denver Nuggets handed the Spurs their third home loss of the season. (And last home loss of the year, I hope. Next Saturday will tell that tale, against the Spurs' possible first-round playoff opponents, the Memphis Grizzlies.)

Maybe what was sweetest about these two overtime wins on the road was the play of one key veteran on the floor, Robert Horry. He's had a lot of important shots late in games during the past. But this weekend he made his first two late-game three-balls that mattered to the Spurs, a team he joined in 2003 after leaving the Lakers. Big Shot Bob, as he's called, sank a three-pointer to send the game into OT tonight. The Spurs then beat the Warriors, who'd won eight straight, after 10 more minutes. Last night Horry sank the three-pointer in the second overtime to win the game in the Staples Center against the Clippers.

Maybe last night he felt some comfort in shooting at Staples, where he won his fifth title ring with the Lakers.

The road wins have been tough for the Spurs this year. Without these overtime victories this weekend, the Spurs would only be a .500 team away from home.

Horry is getting his shots because Duncan has been hurt. With our big man coming back this week, the Spurs might have found the handle on putting the ball in the hoop. When a guy like Horry, with five championship rings, starts finding his shooting rhythm, the future looks brighter, even in the dark of the Texas night.

Spurs beat writer Johnny Ludden of the San Antonio Express-News gave Horry's heroics a flourish:

With one more ankle having given way and their season poised to take another turn for the worse as Sunday morning closed hard on Saturday night, the Spurs put the ball in the hands of Manu Ginobili and let him go to work.

When that wasn’t enough, they turned to Big Shot Bob.

And Big Block Bob.

Robert Horry, whose late-game heroics have made him a favorite of the locals here, buried a 3-pointer with 22.2 seconds left then stuffed Mikki Moore at the rim just before the final buzzer as the Spurs outlasted the Los Angeles Clippers 125-124 in double overtime at Staples Center.

“We all know he can hit those kind of shots, but the defensive play he made was unbelievable,” Ginobili said. “He gave us the win.”

Now I can get some rest. Two overtimes in two nights from the West Coast kept me wide awake in the wee hours, hunched over my radio listening to Bill Schoening's masterful call on WOAI. Nothing like double-overtime to get your heart rate up. Here come the playoffs.