SAN ANTONIO — Russell Westbrook scored 35 points, including a crucial three-point play in the final seconds, as the Oklahoma City Thunder did what they needed to do down the stretch and beat the San Antonio Spurs 95-91 Tuesday to take a 3-2 lead in the Western Conference semifinals series.
Game 6 of the best-of-seven series is set for Thursday in Oklahoma City. A seventh game, if necessary, would be in San Antonio on Sunday.
San Antonio led 88-86 with 2:39 to play before Oklahoma City’s Enes Kanter hit a layup, blocked a shot by the Spurs’ Tim Duncan on the defensive end and ran the court to receive a pass from Westbrook for another layup that gave the Thunder a 90-88 lead.
San Antonio’s Tony Parker hit a jumper to tie the game before the Thunder’s Kevin Durant made two free throws to push Oklahoma City to a 92-90 advantage. Parker then went 1-for-2 from the line to bring the Spurs within 92-91, and, after a steal by Danny Green, badly missed a jumper with 11 seconds remaining.
Westbrook got loose on the ensuing inbounds play and headed to the basket as he was being fouled, converting the layup and a free throw with 6.3 seconds to play to ice the game.
Durant added 23 points for the Thunder, while Steven Adams had 12 points and 11 rebounds. Kanter pulled down 13 rebounds for Oklahoma City, and Westbrook contributed 11 rebounds and nine assists.
The Spurs were led by Kawhi Leonard’s 26 points. LaMarcus Aldridge and Green had 20 points apiece.
San Antonio, which lost just one game at home in the regular season, has now lost back-to-back contests in the AT&T Center to the Thunder. The Spurs had won seven consecutive Game 5s, with their last Game 5 loss coming in 2012, to Oklahoma City.
San Antonio looked out of sync from the start of the game, falling into a 9-2 hole early in the first quarter. The Spurs fought back to take a 16-15 lead on a layup by Boris Diaw, but Oklahoma City scored the final seven points to reassume a 22-16 advantage after 12 minutes of play.
The Spurs fought back to grab a short-lived 32-31 lead on Parker finger-roll layup early in the second quarter. Westbrook scored five straight points for Oklahoma City and Serge Ibaka poured in a wide-open 3-pointer to hand a 39-36 advantage back to the Thunder.
San Antonio ended the period with a 12-4 run that was punctuated by a ringing 3-pointer by Green with seven seconds remaining, and the Spurs owned a 48-43 advantage at halftime.
Leonard led all scorers with 17 first-half points, while Westbrook paced the Thunder with 14 points and Durant had 12 before the break.
Things went San Antonio’s way early in the third quarter, as when Leonard dribbled the ball off his foot and it caromed straight to a wide-open Green, who grabbed the loose ball and rose in one motion to hit a 3-pointer that gave the Spurs a 59-47 lead. Green hit another shot from beyond the arc on San Antonio’s ensuing possession, and the Spurs had found their stride.
However, Oklahoma City was far from shaken by the San Antonio run, fashioning a 12-4 spurt of its own over the final four minutes to cut the Spurs’ lead to 72-69 heading into the fourth quarter.
Green’s fifth 3-pointer of the game with 8:55 to play was countered on ensuing possessions by consecutive treys by Westbrook and Durant that tied the game at 78 and set the stage for the furious finish.
NOTES: Spurs C/F Tim Duncan, G Manu Ginobili and PG Tony Parker have 126 postseason wins together, the most by a trio in NBA postseason history. The trio has played in 195 playoff games. … During Game 4 of the series on Sunday, Thunder F Kevin Durant equaled his postseason career high by scoring 41 points on 14-of-25 shooting from the field. In the fourth quarter alone, Durant outscored the Spurs (17-16) and made all six of his shots from the field. … Durant’s 29 second-half points in Game 4 represent the most in one half in a Thunder playoff game during the Oklahoma City era. … After scoring 26 and 31 points in Game 3, respectively, Durant and PG Russell Westbrook have now each scored 25 or more points in 33 postseason games, tied for the second most in NBA history behind the Lakers’ Jerry West and Elgin Baylor (50).