The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder face off in Game 3 of the Western Conference Finals as the series shifts to Oklahoma City. San Antonio is looking for its 11th straight win in the playoffs (and 21st overall dating back to the regular season), which would tie it for the most wins to open up the playoffs in NBA history. Meanwhile, the Thunder are just looking to avoid falling into an insurmountable 0-3 hole.
Solid Greg Popovich interview there. Nothing is better than a curt, three word response to a guy wearing a rainbow.
Meanwhile, Ginobili uses his Argentinean know-how to get open and drain a three for the Spurs.
Nick Collison then knocks down a jumper of his own.
Spurs 27, Thunder 26.
Interesting game so far. San Antonio commits six turnovers in the first quarter, yet they're leading.
Somewhere in there Duncan ended up with another block which puts him just one swat away from Kareem. Could see some history tonight here folks.
Spurs 24, Thunder 22.
The pace is picking up and I can hardly keep up, but Nick Collison tips in an errant shot for the Thunder tying the game up.
San Antonio holds for the final possession with Manu Ginobili cutting to the lane as Thabo Sefalosha inadvertently clotheslines Ginobili, leading to a flagrant-1.
Gino drains both free throws but Matt Bonner gets called for an illegal screen, giving the ball back to the Thunder, who miss the final shot.
Buzzer.
Spurs 24, Thunder 22.Â
Both teams trade offensive fouls. One by Splitter and one by Durant on Stephen Jackson, who promptly comes to the other end and hits a three.
Derek Fisher drains his first shot of the game, as does Gary Neal on the other end.
Spurs 22, Thunder 20.
Stephen Jackson with a pure, unadulterated Stephen Jackson possession there (in a good way). He runs down the shot clock and takes a long two, draining it at the buzzer.
Meanwhile, Kevin Durant easily takes Tiago Splitter to the rim on the other end.
Thunder 18, Spurs 17.
Kevin Durant goes coast-to-coast, finds a seam and contorts his body around the helping Duncan for an monstrous slam.
The crowd is freaking out, screeching with glee at this point.Â
This, ladies and gentlemen, is basketball.
Thunder 16, Spurs 15.
The double-team from Stephen Jackson and Tony Parker leads to a reach-in foul on Durant. Still no complaints about the refs from me.
Harden misses a wide-open three, but gets the ball back after another possession for the Spurs and attacks the rim.
Tim Duncan streaks to the rim on the other end for the Spurs and runs over Kendrick Perkins for an easy layup.
Spurs 15, Thunder 14.
Tim Duncan got a block there, he's now just two behind Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for the most career blocks in the playoffs in NBA history.
On the other end of the floor he gets to the free throw line on a call the crowd doesn't like, sinks one of two shots and puts the Spurs ahead.
Harden and Ginobili both come in.
Spurs 13, Thunder 12.
Tony Parker gets to the line for the Spurs with a chance to completely erase the deficit.Â
Parker drains both free throws and ties the game. That lead didn't last long, now did it?
Thunder 12, Spurs 12.
Tim Duncan has gotten four open jumpers already in this game. He made two and missed two, but he's going to take that shot all day long, especially with Boris Diaw gobbling up offensive rebounds like he gobbled up doughnuts in the offseason.
Westbrook and Parker trade jumpers and Diaw drains a free throw from an off-ball foul.
Thunder 12, Spurs 10.
Parker looks frustrated by Thabo Sefalosha, but instead of trying to attack him he calmly steps back and drains a three.
Thunder 10, Spurs 7.
Kevin Durant's keen on playing like Rajon Rondo tonight? Look out then.
Tim Duncan opens the scoring for San Antonio with that Duncan-esq jumper.
San Antonio gets the rebound on the defensive end and then Duncan gets the ball back in the exact same spot for another jumper.
Westbrook dashes quickly down low on Danny Green and gets two more for the Thunder.
Thunder 10, Spurs 4.
Why should Spurs fans not worry about this early onslaught? Does anybody remember game three against the Clippers when they were vomiting turnovers in the first quarter pretty much exactly like they are now?
No other team in this game can make in-game adjustments like the Spurs, and they don't do it from quarter-to-quarter, they do it from possession-to-possession.Â
The Spurs are lacking their nasty early. Three turnovers already after that alley-oop to Kevin Durant.
Another turnover by the Spurs and a long jumperby Ibaka gets this one to a big lead for the Thunder early.
Thunder 8, Spurs 0.
As soon as I say that Kevin Durant draws the foul after Danny Green taps him on the elbow. Durant makes both free ones.
Thunder 4, Spurs 0.
Westbrook drives into Parker's chest and puts in a six-footer to open the scoring. A foul easily could have been called on that one, but it looks like the refs are letting this one go for a while.
Thunder 2, Spurs 0.
Oklahoma City's fans are going to be the x-factor in this game. Forget Harden, forget Ginobili, forget everybody.
These fans love to scream, and the Thunder really feed off the energy.
That being said, I'm picking the Spurs.
Did any of you guys notice how little love James Harden got from the world for his 30-point performance in game two? Dude went 10-13 from the floor and the story was still about the Durant-Westbrook dynamic.
I'm thinking if the Thunder win tonight it's because Harden does something dynamic, like, you know, going 10-13 from the field and scoring 30 points.
I've got one last interesting link to share with you guys before the game starts.
We all know what the Spurs need to do to win, they need to play like they've played for the past 20 games.
However, the real understatement is about how this team has transformed the NBA.
Garrett Jochnau breaks down what the Spurs have done to the league over the course of the past 15 years.
Quick fact: Oklahoma City must beat San Antonio in four of the next five games. San Antonio has lost four of their last 38 games.
That's got to be a frightening thought to the Thunder at this point, no matter how confident they are in their abilities.
Guys, we're just a handful of minutes away from the start of game three of this thrilling series.
The Thunder is going to need baby steps going forward to really get themselves back into this series. They need to do things that they've done all season long to win games and keep themselves close in games.
Tim Daniels does a good job breaking down what Oklahoma City needs to do tonight.
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