NBA: Warriors even series in OT
Golden State’s Klay Thompson drives to the hoop on the Spurs’ Tony Parker
There was only one game played in NBA Conference semifinals on Sunday, but they made sure that it was worth the time of anyone watching. The San Antonio Spurs and the Golden State Warriors laced up their favorite kicks and hit the hardwood in Oakland for Game 4 of the best-of-seven series. They couldn’t figure out which club wanted it more in the regulation time of 48 minutes, so they ended up playing an extra five-minutes before the Warriors came out with an 97:87 win to even the series at 2 games each.
The hosts were down by eight with just five minutes to play and fought back to knot the score with a pair of Jarrett Jack singles with just under a minute to play. Harrison Barnes was game and career-high with 26 points for the Warriors.
Golden State built an early 11:6 advantage off a Stephen Curry triple, which was followed-up by five straight by the Spurs to tie things up at 11. It would be nearly four minutes before either club would score again, and when they did it was the Spurs adding to their run, putting down another nine to total 14 unanswered before Barnes hit a lay-up to stop the bleeding for the Warriors. Barnes next sank a pair of singles and then he exchanged baskets with Manu Ginobili to finish off the quarter with the Spurs leading 19:26.
Mid-way through the second quarter, Tim Duncan tipped in a missed Tony Parker jumper to give the Spurs a double-digit lead for the first time at 27:37. For the rest of the frame they traded baskets with the guests taking an eight-point lead into the break, 37:45.
The Spurs’ Tim Duncan looks to dump the ball inside while a wall of yellow shirts looks on in Oakland.
Tiago Splitter tallied the first points of the new half with a jumper to push the Spurs’ lead back to 10. Klay Thompson (lay-up), Barnes (jumper) and Curry (two three-pointers) put down 10 with a Danny Green triple for the Spurs in the mixed, cutting the margin to three, 47:50. Curry sank a pair of free throws, Duncan split a pair for the Spurs and then Carl Landry drove the lane for a deuce and converted it into a three-point play due to a Duncan foul on the shot to give the Warriors the lead. Barnes nailed a long-ball to get the advantage to four, 55:51, mid-way into the stanza. The traded the lead for the next five minutes, but Parker put the quarter in the books with San Antonio on top by two with a jumper in the closing seconds, 60:62.
This team will not lay down. This team will not quit. It looked dark. It looked awfully dark, but we found a way to get stops and make plays.
— Warriors coach Mark Jackson
Kawhi Leonard hit a jumper and a lay-up and Splitter dropped in a lay-up to put the Spurs up by eight, 60:68 with 10:24 to play. Barnes and Curry gave the Warriors 10 over the next three minutes, while Parker and Duncan tallied four, to cut the lead to two, 70:72. The Spurs went on an 2:8 run behind five from Ginobili, to get up by eight, 72:80 with 4:49 on the clock. Jack put the Warriors on his shoulders and carried them for the next three minutes, knocking down four jumpers to knot the score at 82 with a minute to play. Parker got his 17th point with a jumper at 39.2, but Thompson drew the Warriors even again with a lay-up. Both Ginobili and Jack had open triple attempts before the buzzer went off, but they both came up empty and they reset the clock to five minutes and got set to play more…
Jack continued with the hot hand, scoring the first points in the extra frame with another jumper. Barnes sank a pair of free throws to give the Warriors a four-point lead with 4:21 to play. Over the next two minutes, the Spurs would miss a three-point attempt, two free throws, another triple came up short, a missed lay-up and then a turnover (all on the same possession). Barnes hit another jumper and Curry got a three-point play to put the Warriors up nine with just under two minutes to on the clock. Green hit the only points the Spurs would get in the OT frame when he connected on a triple, but Landry dropped in a deuce and Jack closed out Game 4 with a pair of singles to give the Warriors an 97:87 win to lock the clubs up in the series at two games apiece.
In overtime, we just stopped scoring. We kept running the same plays, our usual stuff, and it just didn’t fall. They made every shot in overtime. In a game that it so close and so tight, that ends up being the difference. . . . What’s disappointing is, we had them were we wanted. We blew it.”
— Manu Ginobili
Game 5 will shift back to San Antonio on Tuesday, and then Game 6 will return to Oakland on Thursday. If a Game 7 is necessary, they’ll suit on next Sunday in San Antonio.