San Antonio Takes Key Win in Game 5
In Game 5, the San Antonio Spurs had a dominant 109-91 win over the Golden State Warriors to take a 3-2 lead for the series.
Spurs Tony Parker
For the night, the Spurs Tony Parker played aggressively and scored 25 points (9 of 16) with 10 assists. At the rim, he converted 5 for 7 of his shots and from this play, his teammates found opportunities.
Danny Green, who’s been off in this series, found his way on Tuesday and scored 16 points (6 for 10 shooting with 2-5 behind the arc) while Kawhi Leonard added 17 points after only missing just one of eight shot attempts.
Veteran Tim Duncan had 14 points with 11 rebounds and with this double-double No. 143, he moved past Shaquille O’Neal and is now tied with Wilt Chamberlain for the second spot on the career postseason list of double-doubles.
Aside from the Spurs’ high energy in the game, adding to the their success on Tuesday was the 38-36 outrebounding of the Warriors. They forced 14 turnovers and held their opponents to 16 second-chance points as well as shooting 72 percent for the first quarter.
Parker, who is battling a bruised left calf, said of the game via ESPN, “Our energy was good. We got the 50-50 ball; that was huge for us tonight. It was a tough turnaround for us in Game 4. We missed an opportunity at the end and we realize that. Tonight we played for 48 minutes.”
As for the Warriors, it was obviously not their night. Harrison Barnes led the team in scoring with 25 points, while Jarrett Jack contributed 20 points and Carl Landry added 16.
Warriors Stephen Curry
Stephen Curry didn’t show up. He had nine points for the night, going 1-for-7 on his 3-pointers. Teammate Klay Thompson was even worse with his four points including zero 3-point attempts. This was a far cry from his Game 4 eight 3-pointers and the 34 points from Game 2. The secret is out that this backcourt duo needed to be stopped and the Spurs successfully did so.
From Curry and Thompson’s lack of points, it tied them for the lowest combined this season when they have both played in a game. Earlier their lowest combined scored for the postseason was 29 points.
Curry said of his play, “I was terrible, plain and simple. They outplayed us as a team. Individually, I didn’t have anything on either end. (I was) a step slow, my shot wasn’t falling and I was trying to make plays but defensively I lost a little focus.”
The player has struggled with a bad ankle that he turned in Game 3 and this may have limited him on Tuesday. He said it was sore prior to the game but he hoped to overcome it. It didn’t appear to happen and by the fourth quarter, Curry only played for 4½ minutes. With four minutes remaining, he exited for the night as the Spurs had a 102-84 lead after a 12-2 run.
After the game, Curry refused to blame his poor performance on the ankle and instead said the Spurs did what was necessary to stop him.
With the Spurs taking the series lead, the Warriors are approaching elimination from the playoffs for the first time this postseason. They have not lost consecutive games during this time and they’ll look to keep this steak alive in Sunday’s Game 6.
Curry and Thompson will need to regroup and not let the Spurs stop them. Good luck on this as it appears they finally have their number.
Game 6 will take place in San Antonio. Look for a loud crowd supporting the team as they try to advance to the conference finals for a second straight year. The team has hit their stride and will enter the game more confidently than the Warriors.
The Spurs sit at +550 to win this year’s Championship while the Warriors are +4000.
