Western Conference Finals: Spurs recover, win on road (2-1)

Pau Gasol's 3PT dagger did in the Warriors tonight.

The Warriors came out hot early, empowered by the road victory in Texas three nights ago. Steph Curry absolutely torched his defender, Avery Bradley, early with 3PT death-strokes. Avery got his own licks in, dropping two in the corner and then Kawhi Leonard matched it. Dejounte Murray added on the pressure, a 13-5 run for a 31-30 lead after the first quarter despite Kawhi drawing two fouls.

It became clear there was a mini war on the baseline between Pau Gasol and Demarcus Cousins, so Coach Popovich subbed out Noah for the Spaniard, a solid move that gave the Spurs a 62-60 halftime advantage. Patty Mills engaged in his own mini-shootout with Curry, each player hitting bombs but then both going cold and taking a blow on the bench. Next up? The classic rivalry between Durant and Leonard, each player dropping 3's on the other. Pau Gasol threw a pass to Leonard on the fast break for the reverse alley oop throw-down and then Mills (fresh back into the game) buried a long range strike over Klay Thompson. It was 90-85, Spurs, then Kyle O'Quinn caught a nice interior pass and dunked it home, then swiped the ball loose and drained the mid range J, showing off his versatile talent.

Curry kept firing, blasting bricks by the game's end. Davis Bertans showed him how it's done, putting the Spurs up 100-87, this surge caused by last-second doubt on shots turned into errant pass attempts, the ball sailing out of bounds, a steal here and a block at the rim, not getting enough elevation on put-backs tries. Rudy Gay sealed it with the reverse jam on the baseline, then Gasol nailed a corner three. Not to be outdone, Shumpert continued his clutch playoff performance so far and buried a 3PTer, 123-110 San Antone after a 33-25 fourth quarter effort.

Pau Gasol had 18 points, 7 rebounds and 3 steals; Kawhi Leonard led the way with 32 points and 8 rebounds with 4 threes. Avery Bradley finished with 15 points and 6 assists. Mills also scored 15, with 5 threes; and Shumpert nailed in 14 points on a trio of long balls. Dejounte Murray had a solid 10 points with 9 assists, with Joakim Noah corralling 9 rebounds.

Demarcus Cousins had one hell of a game, despite the home loss. 38 points, to be exact. With 18 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 blocks...a remarkable night for the big man. Steph Curry's deficiency culminated with 3-10 3PT, 17 points total (4-14 overall). Klay Thompson had 14 points on a worse 5/16 showing, with Durant not far behind at 7/17 with 4 turnovers (17 points). Draymond Green went 0-4 from long range for just 8 points. The Spurs made 18 threes to Golden State's 11, its bench crushing them 57-18, with 13 turnovers by Golden State, and 60-48 in the paint.