The San Antonio Spurs haven’t given up yet. In a highly competitive Game 4 against the Golden State Warriors, they won 103:90 (BOXSCORE) and are now allowed to travel to Oakland for a fifth game. Wild Plays by LaMarcus Aldridge and Manu Ginobili brought the decision.
As in Game 3, the Spurs were looked after by Assistant Coach Ettore Messina, since Gregg Popovich was with the family after the death of his wife.
His team made a good start on the court – high intensity in the defense, consistent plays on the board in the offense. After 10 minutes the Warriors lost 7 balls, the Spurs none. So it was almost surprising – especially as the triple ratio of the Spurs was better than on the other side – that the lead after the first quarter was no clearer than 30:22.
What hurt the Spurs were numerous offensive rebounds of the Dubs, which compensated a little for the many ball losses. However, there was still no offensive rhythm for the defending champions, but their defence slowly woke up and gradually reached the level of the previous games. But then Dejounte Murray was temporarily hot and hit from a distance – coach Steve Kerr was pissed off. After his time-out, Klay Thompson scored his first triple of the evening: 56:42 at half-time.
After the change of sides, the Warriors were on the spot with a 5-0 run. The Spurs scored for three minutes before Aldridge sunk a threesome. However, the momentum belonged to the Dubs: Draymond Green let the lead with a Fastbreak-Leger become single-digit. Otherwise the flow of the game was disturbed by many fouls. The pace was correspondingly slow, which the Spurs certainly liked better. But: KD caught fire from the half-field and hit with the buzzer to 71:77.
Danny Green’s defensive play against Thompson brought the fans back into the game and the Spurs maintained their lead. But then Durant took the helm and scored several points, his threesome brought his team up to 86:88. Aldridge appeared a short time later: While the throw was going on, he met a wild threesome from the turn with Brett. A minute later Manu Ginobili, also from downtown – the hall was upside down! The decision brought a Fadeaway from LMA to 98:90 – that brought the Spurs sovereign over the time, especially since Manu still had great vintage moments.
Aldridge was topscorer of his colours with 22 points and 10 rebounds, Ginobili scored 16 points. Kevin Durant gave the offensive solo entertainer with 34 points and 13 rebounds, Green got 18 rebounds and 8 points.
San Antonio Spurs v Golden State Warriors 103:90, Series 1:3 (BOXSCORE)
LaMarcus Aldridge. He certainly didn’t succeed in everything, especially his Signature litters didn’t want to fall for a long time. But that didn’t matter to him: in the end he took responsibility and (with a little luck) hit a wild threesome, which overturned the momentum decisively. The Dagger per Fadeaway against Green was also on his cap. Also strong: Manu Ginobili!
Klay Thompson. He was annoyed by the opponent’s strong and physical gait and could not find a rhythm. He wanted to change this by forcing throws – in vain.
Let Manu Ginobili have the ball!