Oakland, CA – The San Antonio Spurs played the role of front- runner for the first time in their Western Conference semifinal series.
It was one way to keep the raucous Oracle Arena crowd quiet.
Tony Parker netted 25 of his 32 points in the first half, while Tim Duncan added 23 points and 10 rebounds in San Antonio's 102-92 win over the Golden State Warriors in Game 3 to take a 2-1 lead in the set.
The Spurs held the lead for all but 11 minutes in the first two contests of this series, but maintained a comfortable margin throughout the majority of this one.
Game 4 is slated for Sunday at Oakland.
Manu Ginobili tallied all 12 of his points in the second half for San Antonio, which shot 50.6 percent (40-of-79) from the floor.
"We made shots and they didn't have as good a night shooting the ball," Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich said. "Sometimes it's as simple as that. There's other factors, you think about, turnovers, blah, blah, blah. But we shot it and they didn't."
Klay Thompson registered 17 points, while Stephen Curry added 16, but on just 5-of-17 from the field for the Warriors, who shot just 31.6 percent from beyond the arc.
Golden State was 41.5 percent (22-of-53) from 3-point range over the first two games of the set.
Curry sprained his left again in the final few minutes of the contest.
"Icing it. Get treatment. We'll see where he's at," Warriors head coach Mark Jackson said of Curry's status for Game 4.
All-Star forward David Lee, who was originally ruled out for the rest of the season, made a three-minute appearance in the first half after tearing his right hip flexor in Game 1 of Golden State's first-round series against the Denver Nuggets.
He finished with five points and two rebounds.
Anytime the Warriors whittled a deficit, the Spurs always had the answer.
Golden State trailed 79-69 after three, but scored the first nine points of the fourth to get within a point. Thompson nailed a triple and Draymond Green's bank shot made it 79-78. Green was fouled on the shot, but was unable to complete the three-point play.
The Warriors never got any closer.
San Antonio countered with an 11-1 run. Danny Green and Parker ripped back-to- back treys to begin the surge and Kawhi Leonard capped it with a driving layup to up the Spurs' advantage to 90-79 a little past the midway point of the frame.
A bit later, a Thompson triple and a Harrison Barnes pull-up jumper clawed the Warriors within 93-88 with 2:48 left.
Ginobili and Carl Landry traded baskets before Duncan hit a turnaround jumper and Parker sunk a pair of free throws two possessions later with 34.6 to play to make it 99-90 and seal the outcome.
Earlier, Golden State led 21-16 with 3:56 left in the first before the Spurs ended the frame on a 16-2 swing. Parker, who scored 13 points in the first, had five points during the burst, which gave the visitors a 32-23 advantage after a quarter of play.
San Antonio took a 57-48 cushion into the break.
Parker went 11-of-14 from the floor in the first half.
The Warriors began the third on a 17-8 run to knot the tilt at 65-65 with 6:34 left in the stanza. San Antonio, though, again had the counter and answered by outscoring Golden State, 14-4, over the remainder of the quarter.
Game Notes
San Antonio shot 58.1 percent (25-of-43) in the first half ... San Antonio tallied 18 points off 11 Warrior turnovers ... Andrew Bogut registered 11 points and 12 boards for Golden State.
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