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Warriors Stifle Spurs in Game 3

The Warriors put the Spurs on the brink of elimination with a 110-97 road win in Game 3 on Thursday night. After 13 lead changes over the first two quarters, Golden State took control of the game and never trailed in the second half. Kevin Durant led all scorers with 26 points, in addition to collecting nine rebounds and six assists. Klay Thompson added 19 points and three three-pointers, while Shaun Livingston tied a season-high with 16 points off the bench. With the victory, Golden State takes a 3-0 lead in the series.

TEAM LEADERS

FASTEST TO 50
In addition to securing a three-games-to-none advantage, the Warriors also ensured Steve Kerr would take his place atop yet another coaching list. Thursday’s victory marked Kerr’s 50th coaching win in 65 career postseason games, making him the fastest coach to 50 playoff wins in NBA history.

MIRROR IMAGES
The first half proved to be tightly contested, with neither side able to build much of a cushion. San Antonio opened the game on a 6-0 burst before Golden State responded with a 12-4 run to take their first lead of the night. The two sides would exchange the lead 10 more times through the remainder of the first frame, with the Warriors holding a 26-23 advantage at the end of one. That proved to be the exact same margin as the second quarter, as the Dubs led 52-46 at halftime.

Ironically, the Warriors also would have won the fourth quarter by a margin of 26-23 if not for Dejounte Murray’s inconsequential dunk just before the final buzzer sounded.

TURNING ON THE FAUCET
With single-basket differentials in three of the four frames, the Warriors did their damage in the only one that wasn’t. And, once again, that proved to be the third.

San Antonio cut the deficit to two points on two occasions early in the second half, but on each occasion, Golden State answered immediately with a three-pointer. It was fortuitous timing, as the Dubs had struggled mightily from beyond the arc up to that point. After making just 1-of-14 three-point attempts through the first two-plus quarters, the back-to-back threes from Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green in the aforementioned sequence got the Warriors recalibrated, and they began to look like their usual selves from that point on. Golden State would go on to shoot 5-of-11 from three-point land in the third quarter, which came to a close with the Dubs up 84-72. The Warriors would maintain that hot hand into the fourth quarter, where they shot 4-of-10 from three-point land.

LIVINGSTON CONTINUES TREND
Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson have been the two leading scorers for the Warriors in each of the first three games of the series, but there’s been another scoring trend as well. After JaVale McGee and Iguodala tied season-highs in scoring in Games 1 and 2, respectively, Shaun Livingston followed suit on Thursday night. Livingston had a spring in his step from the minute he stepped on the floor and finished the game with 16 points on nine shot attempts.

UP NEXT
Golden State will attempt to sweep the Spurs for the second-straight year when they play Game 4 in San Antonio on Sunday.