Kevin Durant scored half of his 36 points in the fourth quarter on Saturday as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the San Antonio Spurs 109-103 to tie the NBA Western Conference Finals at two games apiece.
Defensive stalwart Serge Ibaka contributed some unexpected offense, scoring 26 points on perfect 11-for-11 shooting for the Thunder, who improved to 7-0 at home this post-season.
San Antonio, who won the first two games at home to stretch their winning streak to 20 straight contests before losing Game 3 on Thursday, will try to reassert themselves when they host Game 5 today.
Photo: Reuters
The winners of the best-of-seven series advance to the NBA Finals, where they will play either Miami or Boston for the championship.
“Both teams took care of business at home. Hopefully we continue that trend,” San Antonio’s Manu Ginobili said.
Durant made seven of his nine attempts from the floor in the final quarter. In one five-minute span, he scored all 16 of Oklahoma City’s points — helping them hold off a tenacious Spurs team that trailed by as many as 15 points, but were down by just four midway through the fourth.
Kendrick Perkins added 15 points with nine rebounds for Oklahoma City, helping make up for a lackluster night for Russell Westbrook, who scored just seven points on two-for-10 shooting.
Tim Duncan scored 21 points with eight rebounds for San Antonio.
Kawhi Leonard added 17 points, Ginobili scored 13, while Tony Parker and Boris Diaw chipped in 12 points apiece.
Ibaka’s jump shot with five-and-a-half minutes left in the third quarter gave Oklahoma City their biggest lead of the night at 68-53.
San Antonio responded with an 18-2 scoring run, spearheaded by Ginobili. The Argentine’s three-pointer cut the deficit to 73-71 with 1 minute, 16 seconds left in the third quarter.
Ibaka managed to deliver the defensive play of the game in the final minute of the third.
San Antonio’s DeJuan Blair cruised to the basket for what seemed like an inevitable fastbreak dunk, but Ibaka raced in and smacked the ball away from behind to keep it 75-71 going into the final period.
Durant launched his fourth-quarter outburst with a fade-away jumper and finished with another jump shot with a minute-and-a-half remaining.
He beat the Spurs with drives to the inside and crisp outside shots, and even an alley-oop lay-up off a pass from James Harden.
“I didn’t tell myself that I need to go score, because what we were doing was working,” Durant said. “We were passing the ball and guys were making shots.”
“They went on a little run there. So I just wanted to stick with what we were doing. It started to open —- that gave me some opportunities to make some shots,” Durant said.
Bologna on Thursday advanced past Empoli to reach their first Coppa Italia final in more than half a century. Thijs Dallinga’s 87th-minute header earned Bologna a 2-1 win and his side advanced 5-1 on aggregate. Giovanni Fabbian opened the scoring for Bologna with a header seven minutes in. Then Viktor Kovalenko equalized for Empoli in the 30th minute by turning in a rebound to finish off a counterattack. Bologna won the first leg 3-0. In the May 14 final in Rome, Bologna are to face AC Milan, who eliminated city rivals Inter 4-1 on aggregate following a 3-0 win on Wednesday. Bologna last reached the
If the Wild finally break through and win their first playoff series in a decade, Minnesota’s top line likely will be the reason. They were all over the Golden Knights through the first two games of their NHL Western Conference quarter-finals series, which was 1-1 going back to Minnesota for Game 3 today. The Wild tied the series with a 5-2 win on Tuesday. Matt Boldy had three goals and an assist in the first two games, while Kirill Kaprizov produced two goals and three assists. Joel Eriksson Ek, who centers the line, has yet to get on the scoresheet. “I think the biggest
From a commemorative jersey to a stadium in his name, Argentine soccer organizers are planning a slew of tributes to their late “Captain” Pope Francis, eulogized as the ultimate team player. Tributes to the Argentine pontiff, a lifelong lover of the game, who died on Monday at the age of 88, have been peppered with soccer metaphors in his homeland. “Francisco. What a player,” the Argentine Football Federation (AFA) said, describing the first pope from Latin America and the southern hemisphere as a generational talent who “never hogged the ball” and who showed the world “the importance of having an Argentine captain,
Noelvi Marte on Sunday had seven RBIs and hit his first career grand slam with a drive off infielder Jorge Mateo, while Austin Wynn had a career-high six RBIs as the Cincinnati Reds scored their most runs in 26 years in a 24-2 rout of the Baltimore Orioles. Marte finished with five hits, including his eighth-inning homer off Mateo. Wynn hit a three-run homer in the ninth off catcher Gary Sanchez. Cincinnati scored its most runs since a 24-12 win against the Colorado Rockies on May 19, 1999, and finished with 25 hits. Baltimore allowed its most runs since a 30-3 loss to
RSS