The Oklahoma City Thunder have taken a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference Finals after defeating the San Antonio Spurs, 108-103, in a nail biter. Kevin Durant had 27 points, but James Harden was the hero of the night.
Harden, who had 20 points in Game 5, hit clutch shots throughout the night, but none bigger than his three-pointer as the score was 103-101 late in the fourth quarter.
Not only was the score tight, the game clock was down to 28 seconds.
Manu Ginobili thought about double teaming Harden, but pulled back. Harden then peeked at the shot clock, it showed 5 seconds. He hesitated, dribbled, then pulled back and hit the three over Kawhi Leonard, who was defending Harden beautifully.
That sealed the victory.
The Spurs were unable to take advantage of a late Thunder turnover and could not complete a comeback.
San Antonio was down big in the fourth quarter. With 5 minutes to play in the game, the Spurs faced a 13-point deficit. They trimmed down the lead to only two points, but they were never able to take control of the game.
Ginobili did it all for the Spurs, scoring 34 points and making sure Oklahoma City never felt safe with their lead. He went 5-10 from three, and 11-21 overall from the floor.
The bad news for the Spurs in game 5 was their inability to value their possessions. They had 21 turnovers, which led to 28 points for the Thunder.
Tony Parker struggled from the floor, shooting 5-14. He did have 20 points, but he also had five turnovers.
The Spurs also failed to take advantage of the Thunder's foul troubles. Parker and Ginobili got two fouls on Serge Ibaka within the first 45 seconds of the game. Ibaka was forced to sit out in the first quarter.
The Spurs outscored the Thunder in the paint, but they took too many threes in the first quarter instead of sticking to penetrating and scoring down low.
The Spurs had their instances of success. In the third quarter they made a run and held a six point lead after a flurry of threes from Ginobili. However, the turnovers allowed the Thunder to regain the lead for good.
Russell Westbrook was key in the Thunder's Game 5 victory. He scored 20 points and had 12 assists. He could try raising his field goal percentage, which was 37 percent after going 9-24 from the floor.
Game 6 will be played in Oklahoma City. The Thunder will try to put this one in the books and get the franchise in the Finals for the first time in their history.
