The San Antonio Spurs dominated the second half and held serve at home against the Golden State Warriors with a 109-91 win in Game 5 of the Western Conference Semifinals at the AT&T Center on Tuesday night.
NBA Playoffs 2013, Warriors vs. Spurs Game 5: San Antonio earns convincing win, 109-91
With the Warriors’ stars struggling, the Spurs found their shooting touch and pulled away in the second half to earn a commanding victory at home in Game 5.
Tony Parker led the way for the Spurs with 25 points on 9-for-16 shooting, while Kawhi Leonard was clutch and added 17 points and seven rebounds. The Spurs overcame their shooting previous woes in a big way and shot 51.9 percent from the field, including 10-for-21 from the three-point line.
The Warriors, led by Harrison Barnes' 25 points and seven rebounds, saw their backcourt of Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry struggle all night long. The two sharp shooters finished with just 13 points combined and went a dismal 6-for-22 from the field. Jarrett Jack's 20 points helped mitigate the stars' issues finding the bottom of the net, but Golden State committed 14 turnovers, which sealed its fate.
Though the box score shows a tightly-contested game from a numbers perspective, the Spurs dominated the hustle stats; getting to loose balls, making easy shots in transition and contesting all of Golden State’s looks.
The first half was one of polar opposites in which the Spurs dominated the first quarter but came back down to Earth in the second San Antonio shot 72.2 percent in the first quarter followed by a 33.3 percent in the second. Tim Duncan scored all 10 of his first half points in the first frame and went cold in the second after the Warriors made a defensive adjustment.
Thompson and Curry each failed to find rhythm in the first half and combined for just nine points on 4 of 16 shooting. Barnes scored 15 and Jack added nine in first half.
The third quarter was all San Antonio, with the Spurs building a double-figures lead by dominating the quarter 29-19. The Spurs started off hot and finished the third with a 55.6 percent mark from the field. Parker scored nine during that stretch and the Spurs lead swelled to 14 points. San Antonio forced six turnovers in the quarter, scoring 10 points off those giveaways.
That essentially told the story for the rest of the game. The Spurs closed out the Warriors in the fourth and held them to just 19 points in the final 12 minutes.
Game 6 now turns in to a literal must-win game for Golden State with the series shifting back to the Bay Area on Thursday at 10:30 p.m. ET.
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