Spurs 102, Warriors 92
OAKLAND, Calif. - Danny Green and Tony Parker hit consecutive 3-pointers to stop a Golden State run and Manu Ginobili capped a big second half with a layup with 1:57 to go as the San Antonio Spurs, leading most of the way, held off the Warriors 102-92 Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 Western Conference semifinals.
Game 4 of the series will be played Sunday afternoon (3:30 p.m. EDT) in Oakland, with the series returning to San Antonio for Game 5 on Tuesday.
After the Warriors had scored the first nine points of the fourth period to cut a 79-69 deficit to one, Green, who played brilliant defense on Warriors star Stephen Curry most of the night, got free for his first 3-pointer of the game to re-establish a four-point Spurts advantage.
The Warriors missed twice at the other end, including a 3 by Curry, and Parker made it an 85-78 advantage with a 3-pointer off a screen from Tim Duncan.
Golden State eventually rallied within 93-88 on a jumper by Harrison Barnes with 2:48 to go, but suffered a key setback along the way when Curry twisted his left ankle and was relegated to spotting up in the corner the rest of the game. He never scored again.
Meanwhile, the Warriors had a chance to get within two with 2:06 to go, but Jarrett Jack misfired on a 3-pointer.
Ginobili then applied the crushing blow, getting inside Klay Thompson for a layup with 1:57 left that made it a seven-point game and allowed the Spurs to coast home.
Parker, hitting 13 of his 23 shots, led the Spurs with 32 points. Duncan added 23 points and 10 rebounds for San Antonio, which shot 50.6 percent from the field after struggling from the field for most of the first two games.
Kawhi Leonard chipped in 15 points and Ginobili, scoreless at halftime, had 12.
The Spurs effectively shut down the Warriors' long-range tandem of Thompson and Curry, which had averaged 59.5 points as Golden State went to San Antonio and got a surprising split, almost sweeping the two games.
Thompson led the Warriors with 17 points, but was limited to five 3-point attempts, making three. He hit just seven of his 20 shots overall.
Curry went just 5-for-17, including 3-for-9 from 3-point range, as Golden State missed 13 of its 19 3s and shot just 39.3 percent overall.
Carl Landry had 14 points, Barnes 12, Andrew Bogut 11 to go with 12 rebounds, and Jack 11 for the Warriors.
Down by nine to start the third quarter, the Warriors rallied into a 65-all tie near the midpoint of the third period on a Curry 3.
But the Spurs immediately countered with an 11-point flurry, with Giniboli, previously scoreless, providing eight of the points. It was 79-69 at quarter's end.
Then just as quickly, the pendulum swung back in Golden State's direction. The Warriors forced three consecutive San Antonio turnovers while scoring the first nine points of the fourth period, four by Draymond Green, to get within 79-78 with 10:06 to go.
That's when Green and Parker hit their 3s, and the Warriors never got closer than five again.
For the third game in a row, the visiting team quieted the crowd by gaining the upper hand early, with the Spurs leading for almost the first half en route to a 57-48 advantage at the intermission.
And once again, it was the visitors' point guard doing the silencing.
Parker had 25 points in the half, including 13 in a first quarter in which the Spurs built as many as a nine-point advantage.
The Spurs had hoped to shoot better and shut down the Curry-Thompson tandem as best they could, and they were successful on both fronts in the half.
While they were hitting 58.1 percent of their own shots, the Spurs held Thompson scoreless in the first period and blanked Curry in the second. They combined for only 12 points in the half on 4-for-13 shooting.
NOTES: Warriors coach Mark Jackson announced before the game that standout power forward David Lee was available for limited action after having worked out Thursday against a "live body." Lee played 87 generally ineffective seconds in Game 6 of the first-round series against Denver after suffering a torn right hip flexor in Game 1 of that series. He was in uniform but didn't play in the first two games against the Spurs. ... Spurs coach Gregg Popovich made it clear before the game what his team's biggest problem had been in Games 1 and 2. "We need to shoot the ball and we need to score," he said. "We've been shooting horribly and that's the biggest difference in the games. If you hold them to 100 points (as was the case in Game 2), that's pretty good. But you have to score." ... The coaches played a little cat-and-mouse with their starting lineups before the game. Jackson said he wouldn't announce his starters until after Popovich announced his. When Popovich disclosed Tiago Splitter would be making his first start of the series, Jackson countered with Festus Ezeli. ... The playoff game was the 321st in the Spurs' NBA history. They had never won in Oakland in the first 320 games. ... The Spurs had a winning road record for the 16th consecutive regular season but went 0-2 at Oracle Arena, losing once when the Warriors debuted sleeved jerseys and the other time when Popovich elected to rest four starters on the eve of the playoffs.
