2012 NBA Playoffs Round 2 Update: 5/19 – Spurs Battle Back From 24 Down to 96-86 Win & Durant, Thunder Stun Lakers 103-100

San Antonio Spurs vs Los Angeles Clippers

The Los Angeles Clippers had a commanding 22-point lead over San Antonio at the end of the opening quarter.

Then the Spurs woke up.

LAC actually had a 24-point lead, the largest of the game, over San Antonio with 9:17 to play in the second quarter following Nick Young’s three-point make but the Spurs were able to battle back and cut the huge deficit down to just 10 points, 53-43, by halftime.

The Spurs stopped fooling around in the third quarter and put their foot on the gas en route to a 24-0 run — that’s right, 24 unanswered points — and ended the period leading 69-61.

San Antonio coasted in the final 12 minutes to a 96-86 win to take a 3-0 series lead over the Los Angeles Clippers.

First ballot Hall-of-Famer Tim Duncan scored 19 points in the victory and corralled a team-high 13 rebounds in the contest.

Point guard Tony Parker recorded a double-double in the game by pouring in 23 points and dishing out 10 assists for San Antonio — both team-high’s.

Rookie swingman Kawhi Leonard narrowly missed posting a double-double in the matchup as he tallied 14 points and nine rebounds in the game.

Manu Ginobili dropped 13 points as a reserve and padded the stat sheet with six assists, four boards, and one block in 30 minutes of action.

Blake Griffin was the unconscious in the first and went off for 20 points on 10-of-13 shooting with seven rebounds. He cooled down however in the second half and finished with 28 points on 13-for-24 shooting with 16 boards in 43 minutes of action.

Chris Paul was the only other Clipper starter who totaled more than seven points — he finished with 12 for the game as he struggled the entire contest hitting just 5-of-17 shot attempts in 39 minutes of action. Paul did have a double-double in the game though as he quietly distributed 11 assists.

Mo Williams played limited minutes off the bench but might have been the most consistent scorer for Los Angeles as the backup guard scored 19 points on 8-of-12 shooting in 23 minutes of game time.

Game 4 is Sunday (5/20) at 10:30 PM (ET).

Spurs lead Clippers 3-0

***

Oklahoma City Thunder vs Los Angeles Lakers 

Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant led another late fouth quarter surge for the Oklahoma City Thunder as they overcame a nine-point deficit in the final period and won the game in the final seconds on a cold-blooded three-pointer from the reigning 3-time NBA scoring champ.

“It left my hand, (and) I was thinking, ‘If this doesn’t go in, it’s going to be a terrible shot,'” Durant said in his post-game comments to the AP.

It went in.

Durant’s three-pointer gave OKC a 101-98 lead with just 13 seconds left to play.

James Harden sank two free-throws with seven seconds remaining for the Thunder and Kobe hit a meaningless jumper as time expired to end the game 103-100.

All five starters for the Lakers reached double-figures in the losing effort. Kobe led LA with 38 points and five assists (both team-high’s) while also pulling down eight rebounds in the game.

Andrew Bynum helped out with 18 points and nine boards, the former Ron Artest scored 14 points in the contest and teammates Ramon Sessions and Pau Gasol each dropped 10 points apiece.

LA only played three reserves in the game — Matt Barnes, Jordan Hill, Steve Blake — and got little to none output from them on the scoring end.

Barnes was scoreless in his five minutes of action while Hill and Blake scored five points apiece. This trio was a combined 4-of-14 shooting in the game.

The Thunder played five reserves in the game however three of them were scoreless. Former Laker Derek Fisher logged 15 minutes in the game and scored five points as Sixth Man Of the Year award winner James Harden dropped 12 points and added six rebounds and three assists in his 33 minutes of action.

OKC was forced to rely on their dynamic duo of All-Stars Russell Westbrook and Kevin Durant for points as two other starters, guard Thabo Stefolosha and center Kendrick Perkins, only scored one basket apiece.

Serge Ibaka was the Thunder’s third leading scorer with 14 points while also recording a game-high five blocks in the game.

Westbrook and Durant combined for 68 points while Durant also posted a game-high 13 rebounds in the contest to achieve his third double-double of this years playoffs.

From Elias Sports Bureau:

"Russell Westbrook scored 37 points while teammate Kevin Durant added 31 in the Thunder’s 103-100 win at Staples Center. It was the first time two teammates scored at least 30 points in a playoff road win over the Lakers since June 12, 1991, when Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan scored 32 and 30, respectively as the Bulls wrapped up their first NBA title with a win in Game 5 of the NBA Finals at the Great Western Forum."

Game 5 is Monday at 9:30 PM (ET)

Thunder lead Lakers 3-1