“It’s not like we got beat by 30 – the game went down to the wire and both teams played really well”, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “We stuck together. We stuck to the game plan, just did our jobs and played our basketball”. “Russell [Westbrook] was part of that, [Enes] Kanter was part of that, and that’s hurt us through the entire series”.
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The Thunder now head back to Oklahoma City with a chance to close out the series.
Leonard acknowledged it’s “definitely” hard to ponder the prospect of elimination. Now that either Durant or Westbrook is on the floor at all times, the team doesn’t have massive lulls from which it has to claw back. “But it’s not over yet”.
Russell Westbrook jogged up to the scorer’s table to check in with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter.
The Spurs closed out the 2nd quarter strong on a 10-2 run to take a five point lead into the half.
Now, OKC has tripled that total.
Green’s fifth 3-pointer of the game with 8:55 to play was countered on ensuing possessions by consecutive treys by Westbrook and Durant that tied the game at 78 and set the stage for the furious finish.
“I just played until I heard the whistle”, Westbrook said.
In the first half, he played tentative, seemingly trying to wait for Durant to find his groove.
Tony Parker had just scored when Billy Donovan signaled his first timeout of the second half. Game 5 against the Spurs? LaMarcus Aldridge put up 20 points and nine boards while Danny Green knocked down six of his nine three-point attempts en route to a 20-point showing. “I thought our guys had great looks”. Durant likes to say “it’s a make-or-miss league”, often overlooking what kind of shot led up to that make or miss. Whiteside did not travel with the Heat for Wednesday’s Game 5 in Toronto.
In the fourth quarter it looked like the Spurs would once again pull away after Kawhi Leonard stole a Durant pass and took it coast-to-coast for the slam to put San Antonio up six points with four minutes left, but for the second straight game, OKC was able to save its best effort for the final stretch. The Thunder closed the third on a 12-4 run and cut into San Antonio’s lead 72-69 as the teams went into their final intermission. Durant went to the line on the next series and buried a pair of free throws. They did, but not before Westbrook hit a layup that gave the team a three-point lead pending a free throw. Oklahoma City took control down the stretch by out-Spurs’ing the Spurs. Parker had nine points while Duncan finished with five after 32 minutes on court. “I just know he does a good job setting screens for them”.
The Thunder won 95-91 and are now up 3-2 in the series. Their lone series loss came as the Seattle SuperSonics in the 1978 NBA Finals against Washington.
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“We always think we have a chance”. Like the Spurs and Thunder, we’re taking it a game at a time. We should have arrived to that point in a better situation.
