Spurs 114, Thunder 105

Spurs 114, Thunder 105

THE FACTS: The San Antonio Spurs led by as many as 27 and never trailed but had to hold on for dear life to finally beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 114-105 inside a roaring Chesapeake Energy Arena. Spurs point guard Tony Parker led San Antonio with 25 points but it was second year guard Danny Green who plagued the Thunder with clutch plays and baskets coming down the stretch. Green scored 21 points, 10 of them in the fourth quarter on 4-for-5 shooting. All five Spurs starters scored in double figures. Center DeJuan Blair had 22 points and 11 rebounds and forward Tim Duncan had a monster game with 16 points, 19 boards and five blocked shots. Oklahoma City rallied to cut the lead down to just two in the fourth quarter behind a 36 point night from point guard Russell Westbrook and 25 from Kevin Durant. Sixth man James Harden added 19 and Serge Ibaka had 12 points, 12 rebounds and six blocks. The Thunder's lead over the Spurs in Western Conference shrinks now to just three games.

QUOTABLE: "We had a great night. Oklahoma City had a tough start. They missed some easy shots inside and couldn't get a jumper to fall so we were able to get a lead. I thought a lot of guys played well. The whole starting group played well tonight."
-- Spurs coach Gregg Popovich

QUOTABLE II: "Down 27 points you can't expect to come back but our guys nearly did. We should never have been down by that many. Our guys never gave up we cut it to two but Green hit a couple of big shots and made plays that were huge for them."
-- Thunder coach Scott Brooks

THE STAT: The Spurs dominated the game inside outscoring the Thunder 54-36 in the paint. OKC was outrebounded 49-37, 15 of those Spurs rebounds were on the offensive end providing them with a whopping 24 second chance points.

TURNING POINT: With the crowd roaring and the Thunder rallying to get within four points Spurs guard Danny Green stole an inbounds pass with just less than a minute left and raced down court for a slam to silence the crowd and take the wind out of the Thunder rally.

QUOTABLE III: "We came out with a big start and then were able to hold on at the end for a great win. After getting that lead it would have been devastating to lose."
-- Spurs center DeJuan Blair

QUOTABLE IV: "We assumed they were going to make their run, we were a little tired and they got it closer than we may have wanted it to get but great composure by our squad not to lose it."
-- Spurs forward Tim Duncan

HOT: With eight minutes left in the second quarter the Spurs were shooting 65.5 percent (19-for-29) and 4-for-5 (80 percent) on 3-pointers...San Antonio center DeJuan Blair was 9-for-11 (18 points) in the first half...Thunder guard James Harden was 4-for-5 in the first 24 minutes and finished 8-for-11...The Spurs were 10-for-14 on second chance shooting.

NOT: Oklahoma City started the game 0-for-6, that extended to 1-for-10 (10 percent) in the first six minutes...by halftime the Thunder had improved to just 38.6 percent (17-for-44)...Kevin Durant was 2-for-7 in the first half...

INSIDE THE ARENA: During the game the Thunder held a special auction and raffle to raise money to help people in Brazzaville, The Republic of Congo. It's the hometown of Thunder forward Serge Ibaka and was the scene of a munitions plant explosion last week that killed more than 200 people and injured almost 1,500. By the end of the game the auction had raised $16,000. Ibaka autographed the jersey he wore in the game and it sold for $5,200.

GOOD MOVE: The Thunder went on an 18-2 run from late in the third quarter into the fourth when they attacked the Spurs at the rim. But as the San Antonio lead dwindled to almost nothing the Thunder inexplicably abandoned the inside game.

QUOTABLE V: "We did a good job to attack but then I thought we settled for too many threes. When we end up taking just 20 free throws and 25 threes it's probably not a good night for us."

BAD MOVE: The Thunder apparently left their defense back in Denver Thursday night because it was nowhere to be seen in the first half Friday night. The Spurs shot 57.8 percent in the first half (5-for-6 on 3-pointers), they led by as many as 27 and never trailed.

NOTABLE: After putting together a 14-game home winning streak Oklahoma City has now lost three of its last four at home...The 65 points scored by San Antonio in the first half tied for the most scored by the Spurs in any first half this season and are the most given up in a first half by the Thunder...With the win the Spurs take the season series 2-1.