Gregg Popovich will reportedly miss second consecutive game

Meanwhile, the Golden State Warriors had a chance to complete the sweep and advance to the second round but they came out flat against the Spurs in the first half and found themselves fighting an uphill battle the rest of the way. “But Klay with 12 points on 4-for-15 is what killed the Warriors this game”. “We’ve never been through this type of adversity”, said Ginobili. Golden State’s 61 rebounds are the most by a team in a playoff loss since the Phoenix Suns lost Game 5 of the 1995 Western Conference semifinals to the Houston Rockets. The Warriors committed 6 turnovers in the first quarter, while the Spurs did not have any turnovers.

The Silver and Black also got a vintage performance from 40-year-old Manu Ginobili, who scored 10 of his 16 points in the fourth quarter, including his team’s last five after he went down briefly with a quad contusion with 2:47 left. However, a Ginobili three-pointer kicked off a 10-2 run to end the game.

“Our execution was poor and their defense was great”.

“I want to be careful here with my answer”, said Kerr, who considers his four seasons (1998-2001, 2002-03) as a reserve guard with the Spurs integral to his professional development.

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Draymond Green was especially active, taking advantage of the Spurs frontline to grab eight offensive rebounds and 10 defensive boards.

San Antonio opened with the same energy it had to start Game 3, but its shots fell this time. Durant missed his next two attempts.

Aldridge would finish with 22 points and 10 rebounds, but it’s Ginóbili that would steal the show.

Overall, Golden State was out of sync for the first 24 minutes, making just 38.6 percent of its field goals. “Our guys are competing, following the game plan, and trying to give ourselves a shot, but when don’t make shots, it’s always tough”. Play got chippy and the Celtics limited the Bucks’ transition game.

The Warriors have been fortunate that they were able to match up against the Spurs in the first round, because it’s nights like tonight where fans can see how important Steph Curry is for the Warriors.

Durant was responsible for a couple lazy turnovers early. Thompson had only five points.

Spurs: Messina was coaching his first National Basketball Association playoff game, but he has won more than 10 titles in the Euroleague, Russian SuperLeague and Italian League. “But it’s hard to tell how a team is going to react”. San Antonio took a 56-42 lead into the break.

Aldridge’s critical 3-pointer came after the Warriors had rallied within 88-86 on a Durant 3-pointer with 5:57 to play. “You don’t want to put yourself in that situation or circumstance for that to happen”.

Spurs coach Gregg Popovich is sitting out a second game following his wife’s death. And every one of them was critical in staving off the Warriors to win 103-90 and extend the series to Game 5 on Tuesday in Oakland.

“This is a veteran team. Weird things can happen and injuries can happen”, Kerr said beforehand. They whittled in crunch time. It took the Spurs more than a quarter to commit one of their own. “We’re not just going to lay down”.