LaMarcus Aldridge, Spurs Avoid Sweep in Game 4; Beat Kevin Durant, Warriors
LaMarcus Aldridge scored 22 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the San Antonio Spurs defeated the Golden State Warriors 103-90 in Game 4 of their first-round NBA playoff series on Sunday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.
Manu Ginobili added 16 points, five assists and three rebounds in 25 minutes off the bench for the Spurs, who never trailed.
Kevin Durant paced the Warriors with 34 points, while Draymond Green posted nine points, 18 rebounds and nine assists.
The Warriors struggled to find an offensive rhythm and committed 16 turnovers, six of which came in the first four minutes, three seconds of the game. Four of those six early turnovers were due to bad passes.
Overall, Golden State was out of sync for the first 24 minutes, making just 38.6 percent of its field goals. Anthony Slater of The Athletic summed up the Warriors' first two quarters:
On the flip side, San Antonio looked crisp on both ends of the floor. The Spurs hit seven of 15 three-pointers in the first half, led by Dejounte Murray and his trio of threes:
He led the team with 11 points at the half, while Aldridge and Rudy Gay each posted 10. San Antonio took a 56-42 lead into the break. During that time, the Spurs' defensive effort was also sensational, which was alluded to by Mark Medina of the Mercury News:
In addition to the Warriors' offensive struggles, the Spurs seemingly couldn't miss from beyond the three-point arc, as they hit 15 of their 28 shots from downtown on the afternoon. The most notable of those 15 makes was a bank-shot three-pointer from Aldridge to give the Spurs a 93-86 lead with just over four minutes left:
Durant, who scored 22 of his 34 points in the second half, responded with a layup to cut the lead to five. However, a Ginobili three-pointer kicked off a 10-2 run to end the game. He also hit this circus shot during that span:
It was an impressive win for the Spurs, especially considering how difficult the week has been for the team. Erin Popovich, who was married to Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich for four decades, died Wednesday after a prolonged illness. Numerous members of the NBA family, including Ginobili and Spurs point guard Tony Parker, both expressed how much Erin meant to them, per Dane Carbaugh of NBC Sports.
Ettore Messina served as the Spurs' head coach for the second straight game in Popovich's place.
Overall, it was a great win for San Antonio, who avoids a first-round sweep. Jeff McDonald of the San Antonio Express-News summarized the win well:
Golden State will host San Antonio for Game 5 on Tuesday. The Warriors lead the best-of-seven series 3-1 and can advance to the conference semifinals against the New Orleans Pelicans with a victory.
