NBA Playoffs on Sling TV: San Antonio at Oklahoma City
In Game 3 on Friday, the Spurs stole back home court advantage with a 100-96 victory powered by some lethal shooting from downtown, as San Antonio hit on 10 of 19 from three-point land. Down by as much as 15 in the second quarter, the Thunder fought back, briefly taking the lead midway through the fourth, but ran out of gas. Oklahoma City started fouling every Spur in sight, leading to San Antonio hitting 10 of 11 free throws in the final 4:48, as San Antonio slowly pulled away, one point at a time.
The Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard and the Thunder’s Russell Westbrook led all scorers with 31, but where Westbrook needed to hoist 31 shots to get there, Leonard fired off just 17. With Leonard focused on scoring, he left the keys to the Spurs offense in the hands of Tony Parker, who went-19-8-5 and made just 1 turnover. Westbrook is leading the Thunder in scoring this series, with 24.5 ppg, along with 6 boards and 9 assists, but OKC isn’t getting past San Antonio if he continues to hit on just 35% of his shots.
The Spurs completely dominated Game 1, beating the Thunder by a score of 124-92, a win so convincing that it looked like this series was gonna be over quickly. But in Game 2, the Thunder nearly punted away a 9-point lead, but survived a botched inbounds play with 14 seconds to hold on for a 98-97 win that, for a couple of days, tied the series and gave them home court advantage.
LaMarcus Aldridge has been a beast thus far for San Antonio, averaging 34.3 ppg, with 7 rpg, while hitting on 63% of his field goal attempts and 19 of 21 free throws, and Kawhi Leonard is doing his usual thing, averaging 20-6-4, while playing world-class D. For the Thunder, Kevin Durant is averaging 23-7-4, and Steven Adams had been moving the needle for OKC in the first two games, with 11 points and 14 rebounds a game, but in Game 3 managed just 2-11.
Watch the San Antonio Spurs vs. the Oklahoma City Thunder at 8pm ET Sunday on TNT.
All stats courtesy ESPN and Basketball Reference