San Antonio Spurs vs Oklahoma City Thunder: Three Takeaways From Game 3

May 10, 2016, 10:39

Coach Gregg Popovich, on Durant's performance: "You've got to give him credit".

Durant took over in the second half and put up a career-playoff high 41 points as the Oklahoma City Thunder outscored the San Antonio Spurs 34-16 in the fourth quarter and fought to a 111-97 win to even the second round playoff series at 2-2 on Sunday. The NBA's Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard had a team high 31 points; adding 11 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block.

"I know that any moment, I can go off and hit a few shots", Durant said. "I just try and be consistent in what I do".

"I'm still going to have to be aggressive because teams, sometimes, they're just going to stay on the shooters". Parker had 22, Leonard had 20 and LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 20, but the Thunder wrenched the game from the Spurs' hands by speeding up the pace in the second half.

The Thunder are down 2-1, and All-Star guard Russell Westbrook is of a mind to find out if less means more as he seeks to help the top Northwest Division team notch their second win before the series shifts back to San Antonio for Game Five on Tuesday.

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He hasn't finished a game since the playoffs began, injuring his ankle in Game 1 of the Rockets series, then Game 4 with his knee. The first two games of this series, played at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, saw the Warriors take out expected victories.

"I just wanted to make sure that everybody knows what we're doing on offense, defense, where we want to go", said Tony Parker about the incident. After the game, Westbrook said he should have been with Parker on that play.

The Hawks led by as many as 11 but were dominated in the closing minutes.

The Thunder trailed the San Antonio Spurs 85-79 in Game 4 with 11 minutes left in the fourth quarter, and Boris Diaw had just worked over Enes Kanter again. The Spurs finally made their first two three-pointers late in the third quarter. This is why the Thunder got Dion, because they believed this type of play was in him somewhere.

Sometime in the second quarter, out of a timeout, Kevin Durant looked over at his mom sitting courtside and yelled in her direction. The Spurs were still in it at the end and had some chances, a couple of missed threes from Kawhi, but they fell short and everything went OKC's way.

At the center of it was Durant, his mother ("the real MVP") in attendance on Mother's Day, making shots. "I got a couple of more shots than usual".

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Continuing to pile on the agony, the Spurs blew an eight-point halftime lead despite Duncan's struggles from the floor.

Tune in for tonight's big Thunder vs Spurs game that will even up this series or put the Spurs on the brink of advancing.

It was a back-and-forth game (18-15 Spurs) when Westbrook picked up a technical foul following a drive and the Spurs responded with 9-2 run with Westbrook simmering on the bench after receiving the technical.

OKC really looked to increase the tempo in the second quarter.

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