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SPURS GAMEDAY: Another 'must win' for Silver & Black in Game 5 of series

Spurs face task of having to beat Warriors on road to avoid elimination
LaMarcus Aldridge plays defense against Warriors forward Kevin Durant in the Spurs' 103-90 victory in Game 4 of the first-round playoff series Sunday at the AT&T Center. Photo by David Olmos (davidolmosphotography.com) / Special to KENS5.com

No. 2 Golden State Warriors vs. No. 7 Spurs

(Warriors lead first-round playoff series 3-1)

Game 1: Warriors 113, Spurs 92, Saturday, April 14, Oakland, Calif.

Game 2: Warriors 116, Spurs 101, Monday, April 16, Oakland

Game 3: Warriors 110, Spurs 97, Thursday, AT&T Center

Game 4: Spurs 103, Warriors 90, Sunday, AT&T Center

Game 5: Tuesday, 9:30 p.m., Oakland

*Game 6: Thursday, April 26, Time TBD, AT&T Center

*Game 7: Saturday, April 28, Time TBD, Oakland

*If necessary

Follow along on Twitter for live updates and analysis from the KENS 5 Spurs team of David Flores, Javi Perez, Vinnie Vinzetta, and Joe Reinagel.(For mobile users, click here.)

Talk about a mountain to climb.

All the Spurs have got to do to avoid playoff elimination for the second time in three days is win their first road game in two months.

Against the defending league champion, to boot. And without their coach.

One loss away from getting swept by Golden State for the second year in a row, the Silver and Black staved off elimination with a gutsy 103-90 victory over the Warriors in Game 4 of the first-round series Sunday at the AT&T Center.

“You have to go one game at a time,” Spurs All-Star forward LaMarcus Aldridge said, when asked about the team’s mindset going into Game 5. “If you keep getting one game, anything is possible.”

The Silver and Black will be without longtime head coach Gregg Popovich for the third game since his wife, Erin, died last Wednesday after a prolonged illness. Assistant coach Ettore Messina will handle the coaching duties again in Popovich’s absence.

“We just wanted to have some self-respect, go out there and play for these fans, play for San Antonio, play for Pop, play for everybody,” forward Rudy Gay said after Game 4. “It’s more than just basketball right now.

“You know, we have to go out there and play for our families, everything. It’s a lot on the line. You don’t want to just go out there and just give up. We worked too hard this season.”

The Spurs will have to reverse a frustrating trend if they hope to extend the series. They haven’t won on the road since beating LeBron James and the Cavaliers on Feb. 25 in Cleveland, losing 10 consecutive games away from the AT&T Center.

Game 5 is at 9:30 p.m. Tuesday at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif., where Golden State has won 11 consecutive postseason games. The Warriors haven’t dropped a playoff game at home since losing to the Cavs in Game 7 of the NBA Finals in 2016.

Credit: Custom
Manu Ginobili, being held by Warriors JaVale McGee, left, and Andre Iguodala in Game 5 on Sunday, scored 10 of his 16 points in the final six minutes of the Spurs' 103-90 win. Photo by David Olmos (davidolmosphotography.com) / Special to KENS5.com

Sunday’s loss was only the second in the last 21 postseason games for Golden State, which has won two of the last three NBA titles. The Spurs also snapped the Warriors’ 19-game winning streak against Western Conference opponents in the playoffs.

Golden State took the first two games of the series at home, winning the opener 113-92 and taking the second game 116-101. The Silver and Black were never in Game 1, but they played better in Game 2.

The Spurs led 25-23 after one quarter and 53-47 at the half before getting outscored 33-22 in the third period. San Antonio trailed only 80-75 going into the fourth quarter, but Golden State stretched its lead to 15 (94-79) with a 14-4 run. The Silver and Black got within single digits only once the rest of the way.

Aldridge, who led the Silver and Black with 22 points and 10 rebounds in Game 4, and his teammates have no illusions about what they’ll face Tuesday night.

“They play great at home,” Aldridge said. “They have more energy with their crowd. It’s going to take what we did tonight (in Game 4) and even more.”

The Spurs have lost seven straight on the Warriors’ floor since beating them by 29 in the 2016-17 season opener. Golden State swept San Antonio in last year’s Western Conference finals.

The Silver and Black will have a fighting chance to win Tuesday night if they can come anywhere close to replicating their performance in Game 4. That’s highly unlikely considering how they’ve struggled to carry over their success to the road this season.

San Antonio was 33-8 at home but went 14-27 on the road, failing to finish with a winning road record for the first time since the 1996-97 season.

Credit: Custom
Assistant coach Ettore Messina, on the sideline with Manu Ginobili, center, and Rudy Gay in Game 4 on Sunday, will lead the team again in Gregg Popovich's absence in Game 5. Photo by David Olmos (davidolmosphotography.com) / Special to KENS5.com 

Gay expressed confidence that the win in Game 4 will give the Spurs the momentum they need to stay with the Warriors on Tuesday night.

“Today we showed what we could do,” Gay said Sunday. “We took their punches and we just played defense and offense. We moved the ball and played together. We had so many people contribute today, knocked down shots and played well. If we continue to do that, we will be in good shape.”

Playing aggressively from the opening tip, the Silver and Black nailed 15 three-pointers and held Golden State to 37.8 shooting in Game 4. They never trailed and led by as many as 17 points in the first half.

The Spurs won because they finally started making shots, especially from the three-point line, where they were a combined 11 of 61 in Games 2 and 3 and 20 of 83 for the series. San Antonio shot 53.6 from beyond the arc in Game 4, making 15 of 28 attempts. The Silver and Black shot 45.7 percent (37-81) overall.

The Warriors cut the deficit to six going into the fourth quarter and pulled to within two on a three-pointer by Kevin Durant. But then Manu Ginobili did what he’s done throughout his stellar career – step up in a big way at crunch time.

Ginobili scored 10 of his 16 points in the final 5:41, including the last five points of the game. He hit 3 of 4 shots, two of them three-pointers, down the stretch. He also finished the game with three rebounds and five assists.

“Manu is Manu,” Aldridge said. “He is the ultimate competitor. As I’ve said, he makes things happen. He has no quit in him.”

Tuesday night’s game could be the last for 40-year-old Ginobili if the Spurs lose, although his teammates get incredulous whenever the topic of Manu’s retirement comes up.

“I mean, when you see Manu out there, you all think he is going to retire?” Gay said. “He doesn’t play like that, so that’s not in our mind.”

Durant had a game-high 34 points in Game 4, but Klay Thompson missed 12 of 16 shots and finished with only 12 points. He averaged 25.3 points in the first three games of the series.

Spurs All-NBA forward Kawhi Leonard remains out as he rehabs a quad injury that limited him to only nine games this season. He hasn’t played since Jan. 13.

Two-time MVP Stephen Curry, sidelined with a sprained knee since last month, also is out for the Warriors.

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