The San Antonio Spurs took back control of their second round series against the Golden State Warriors with a solid 102-92 win on Friday that was punctuated from 32 points by Tony Parker, who had been quiet the previous two games before breaking out in a big way in Game 3.
The two teams have been evenly matched for the first two games, with the Spurs winning the first and the Warriors taking the second, but San Antonio was in control on Friday and used a solid game from Tim Duncan to win. Duncan had yet another playoff double double of 23 points and 10 rebounds, while Parker led the team with 32 points, including 25 in the first half when he seemingly could not miss. The team now has a 2-1 lead and home court advantage back after losing in San Antonio and the Spurs could easily be down more in the series had they not made an amazing comeback in Game 1.
With less than five minutes left in the fourth quarter of Game 1, the Spurs were down 16 at home to the Warriors on the road and after cutting the lead down and finishing on an 18-2 run, San Antonio forced overtime and kept the game going, eventually forcing another extra period. The Warriors took the lead at one point and after Manu Ginobili threw up a mistimed three pointer, but he made up for it later. With under five seconds left in the game Ginobili hit the game winning three and the Spurs escaped the first matchup with a win.
Game 3 was a much better performance overall by the Spurs and the team was finally able to shut down the top scorers for the Warriors in Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, who had 16 and 17 points respectively after being the top scorers for Golden State in the previous two games. Curry had 44 points in the OT loss in Game 1 and Thompson was fantastic in the Game 2 win after leading with 36 points, but he was just seven for 20 in the game on Friday, while Curry went just five of 17 with his 16 points and ended up sitting out the final minutes after spraining his ankle.
The Warriors got a solid game of 11 points and 12 rebounds for Andrew Bogut, but he missed most of the second half while sitting with foul trouble, which allowed the Spurs and Duncan to dominate the paint and the inside. The Warriors were down by 10 points going into the fourth and looked like they were making a Spurs-like comeback, but the team started pulling away after the Warriors closed it to 79-78, but they couldn't get over the hump to win the game and now the excitement they had after winning Game 2 puts them back against the wall after giving the home court advantage back to the Spurs.
The Warriors are down 2-1 to the San Antonio Spurs, while the Miami Heat are back on top of the Chicago Bulls 2-1 after winning Game 3 on Friday. The Oklahoma City Thunder and the Memphis Grizzlies are tied 1-1 while playing Saturday, as are the NY Knicks and Indiana Pacers, who play Game 3 on Saturday.
