The San Antonio Spurs on the verge of advancing to the conference finals in the West after defeating the Golden State Warriors in Game 5 to take a 3-2 advantage and with Game 6 on Thursday the team can finish things off to advance against the Memphis Grizzlies.
The Oklahoma City Thunder lost to Memphis at home on Wednesday night to finish their series, while the Warriors will get one last chance at home to take down Tony Parker and the Spurs to stay alive and force a Game 7 matchup. Parker has been the key for the Spurs in the series while leading the team in scoring and assists, while Tim Duncan has played like a much younger version of himself to keep the Spurs on top.
Stephen Curry has been excellent for the Warriors, but he and Klay Thompson were shut down in the last game and Golden State will need another great performance from those two to win on Thursday night. Curry was amazing in Game 1, but after allowing the Spurs to come back from 16 points down with an 18-2 run to end the game, Curry's 44 points were not enough. Manu Ginobili hit the game winning three in double overtime to put the Spurs up 1-1 and even though the Warriors eventually tied the series, that game will be the decider.
The two teams went to overtime again in Game 4 that saw the Warriors dominate the extra period to win 97-87, with Ginobili scoring 21 and Duncan snagging 15 rebounds. Harrison Barnes has been excellent for Golden State as well, scoring 26 points in that game while Andrew Bogut grabbed 18 rebounds.
The Spurs crushed the Warriors in Game 5 to go up 3-2 after winning 109-91 and Curry ended up with one of his worst shooting games and led the team with eight assists. Barnes was tops against with 25 points and seven rebounds, while Parker added 25 points and 10 assists. Duncan had 11 rebounds and the Spurs outscored the Warriors in every quarter but the second, with the fourth coming in at a 26-19 advantage to give them the win.
Thursday night might be the end for the upstart Warriors and the next series will be a great matchup against the Memphis Grizzlies.
