Despite trailing the Thunder by 9 points at the beginning of the 4th quarter, the San Antonio Spurs used their vast playoff experience to overcome the deficit and take a 1-0 series lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals. The game was the Spurs' franchise record 19th consecutive victory. After committing 14 first half turnovers, the Spurs did a tremendous job taking care of the basketball and valuing every possession by limiting the Thunder to only 2 second half takeaways, which prevented the youthful and athletic Thunder from dominating the Spurs on the fast break. After San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich demanded that his team "play with a dose of nasty," and exclaimed "I want some nasty," the Spurs substantially increased their aggressiveness on both ends of the court. San Antonio's crisp passing and offensive execution eventually wore down the Thunder, who played effective defense for the first three quarters of the game. Manu Ginobili had a spectacular game leading the Spurs with 26 points off the bench. Stephen Jackson played a large role in San Antonio outscoring the Thunder 39-27 in the 4th quarter, by forcing Kevin Durant, the NBA's three time defending scoring champion, to work hard for every point he scored.
Despite trailing the Thunder by 9 points at the beginning of the 4th quarter, the San Antonio Spurs used their vast playoff experience to overcome the deficit and take a 1-0 series lead over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference finals. The game was the Spurs' franchise record 19th consecutive victory. After committing 14 first half turnovers, the Spurs did a tremendous job taking care of the basketball and valuing every possession by limiting the Thunder to only 2 second half takeaways, which prevented the youthful and athletic Thunder from dominating the Spurs on the fast break. After San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich demanded that his team "play with a dose of nasty," and exclaimed "I want some nasty," the Spurs substantially increased their aggressiveness on both ends of the court. San Antonio's crisp passing and offensive execution eventually wore down the Thunder, who played effective defense for the first three quarters of the game. Manu Ginobili had a spectacular game leading the Spurs with 26 points off the bench. Stephen Jackson played a large role in San Antonio outscoring the Thunder 39-27 in the 4th quarter, by forcing Kevin Durant, the NBA's three time defending scoring champion, to work hard for every point he scored.
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