NBA playoffs Friday: Spurs return the favor in OKC, Cavaliers grab 3-0 lead over Hawks

San Antonio did that. After 38- and 41-point games to open the series, Aldridge was slowed slightly, scoring 24 points on 8-of-21 shooting with eight rebounds. Leonard came through with his series-high, dropping 31 points on 9-of-17 shooting with 11 rebounds and three assists. The ball constantly rotated through their hands: Aldridge touched the ball 78 times, Leonard 68, per the NBA’s player tracking data. Besides Parker, the point guard who begins every play, no other Spur recorded more than 50 touches.

“Moving the ball is great and we all have fun, but you gotta go to where it gives you the best chance of scoring,” Ginobili said. “Today, giving (Leonard and Aldridge) the ball, especially down the stretch, gave us opportunity. In this situation, with their physicality, their length and strength, it’s almost a no-brainer that we gotta go to them.”

OKLAHOMA CITY -- Russell Westbrook owned his mistakes at the podium.

“You need to find ways to move the ball around and that starts with me,” he said. “I’ve gotta do a better job of leading into the next game.”

Good morning. Let’s basketball.

THERE IT IS: You’d been waiting for a fourth-quarter meltdown from the Thunder, yes? Here it is! OKC coughed up a late lead to the Spurs and couldn’t quite get it back as Kawhi Leonard sunk clutch free throws and grabbed an improbable, important offensive rebound to essentially end the game. But of course, Russell Westbrook went 10-of-31 while Kevin Durant took 18 FGAs, so that’s all anyone will talk about. (How about Kawhi? He’s great!)

The San Antonio Spurs have regained control of the best series of the 2016 NBA Playoffs. A thrilling Game 3 ended with the Spurs holding off the Thunder in Oklahoma City, winning 100-96 in a game that featured clutch shooting, stifling defense and one humongous offensive rebound from Kawhi Leonard to seal it.

Leonard finished with 31 points and 11 rebounds, none bigger than a soaring board off a LaMarcus Aldridge miss that forced Oklahoma City to foul with 22 seconds left. Had the Thunder grabbed that board, they would’ve had a chance to tie the game. Instead, the Spurs closed out a difficult victory to take a 2-1 series lead.

While the San Antonio Spurs look like a well-oiled robot where the thought of one piece moving without the other is unfathomable, the Oklahoma City Thunder may as well be their antithesis. Nothing encapsulates that idea more than this play midway into the fourth quarter.

With the game close, someone had to guard Tony Parker, right? Wrong. Every Thunder player within reach of Parker just pointed at him, hoping that someone would go in front of the Spurs point guard. Someone else, mind you.

Jeff Van Gundy and Mark Jackson, alongside Mike Breen, make a great team. They make a great team in part because they don’t typically agree with each other.

In the third quarter, the two were discussing a foul. Jackson seemed to agree with the referees unconditionally but Van Gundy wasn’t having any of it. He had to stop Jackson during his praise of the officials, especially considering after what happened in the final moments of Game 2 between the Thunder and Spurs:

With the Cavaliers up 3-0 in the series, it doesn’t particularly matter for Atlanta, which simply hasn’t been able to keep up with Cleveland’s ridiculous three-point shooting -- 61 made triples through three games, including an NBA-record 25 in Game 2. With the game out of hand, Teague was clearly frustrated and didn’t make much of an effort to hide the hip check that sent James sprawling dangerously into the front row of fans.

James checked on the fans and they seemed to be OK, which is good, since the results could have been scarier. It was a very poor moment for Teague, letting frustrations boil over. Nothing much has gone right for Atlanta in this series, and the close to this game was more of the same.

To be fair, it looked like Kevin Love slipped a little bit, so we’re glad he’s not hurt. But look at what Kris Humphries just did! He put Kevin Love on skates!

While it wasn’t the prettiest crossover in the history of the NBA, it was definitely effective. The NBA needs to start its own And-1-style game where only big men can participate. We could watch stuff like this all day.

Iman Shumpert outta nowhere! Game 3 between the Hawks and Cavaliers was close into the second quarter when Shumpert decided to go up for a putback dunk. He leaped and stayed in the air for just a brief second longer—just enough time to add that extra kick to an already great dunk.

More like Iman Jumpert.

Game 3 could prove to be the pivotal moment of this series. A Spurs win will prove that they have moved on from the heartbreak of losing in such a strange fashion. If the Thunder emerge victorious at home, they will retain home-court advantage and put pressure on San Antonio. What happens on Friday night could determine how the matchup develops going forward.

Place: Chesapeake Energy Arena

There’s still time to make this a close series, but the Hawks can’t afford to lose at home.

Place: Philips Arena