No. 2 Golden State Warriors vs. No. 7 Spurs
(Warriors lead first-round playoff series 3-0)
Game 1: Warriors 113, Spurs 92, Saturday, Oakland, Calif.
Game 2: Warriors 116, Spurs 101, Monday, Oakland
Game 3: Warriors 110, Spurs 97, Thursday, AT&T Center
Game 4: Sunday, 2:30 p.m., AT&T Center
*Game 5: Tuesday, April 24, Time TBD, Oakland
*Game 6: Thursday, April 26, Time TBD, AT&T Center
*Game 7: Saturday, April 28, Time TBD, Oakland
*If necessary
Spurs assistant coach Ettore Messina will lead the team again in Gregg Popovich’s absence Sunday, when the Silver and Black play the Golden State Warriors in Game 4 of their first-round playoff series at the AT&T Center.
Messina handled the coaching duties in Game 3 on Thursday night, one day after Popovich’s wife, Erin, died after a long illness.
Golden State beat San Antonio 110-97 to take a 3-0 lead, pushing the Spurs to the brink of elimination in the best-of-seven series. The Warriors swept the Spurs last year in the Western Conference finals.
The Silver and Black returned to practice Saturday after taking the day off Friday.
“Of course, it’s a tough situation,” Messina said after the workout. “But the first thing is to clear our mind. If you watched the stat sheet of the last game, we had more points in the paint, we had more free throws, we won the boards, and all quarters were decided by a small margin.
“Again, against a fantastic team like they are – remember they’ve won 18 or 19 (it's 19) straight playoff games with Western Conference teams – we know what we’re playing against. Doing everything a little better will be, of course, the key. So we talked a little bit, watched a little bit of film. I think the team is ready to play and compete.”
Going back to last season, Golden State has won 19 of its last 20 playoff games. The Warriors set an NBA record by starting the postseason 15-0. Golden State lost to Cleveland in Game 4 of the Finals, but the Warriors finished their playoff run 16-1 after clinching their second title in three years with a victory in Game 5.
Messina, 58, joined Gregg Popovich’s coaching staff as a lead assistant before the 2014-15 season. He was one of the best basketball coaches in Europe before taking his first NBA coaching job with San Antonio, leading teams to four EuroLeague championships and four Italian League titles. He was named EuroLeague Coach of the Year twice.
Led by Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson, the Warriors have won all three games of the series by double-figure margins. Durant has averaged 27.3 points, connecting on 52.8 percent of his field goal attempts. Averaging 25.7 points, Thompson is shooting a scorching 63.3 percent and is 65.0 percent from the three-point line.
The stats Durant and Thompson have put up reflect the torrid offensive pace of the Warriors, who are shooting 52.7 overall and 41.2 from beyond the arc.
While Golden State has had little trouble scoring, the Spurs have struggled mightily to put the ball in the basket, shooting only 41.3 percent. The Silver and Black have been particularly poor at the three-point line, shooting only 24.1 percent. San Antonio was a combined 11 of 61 from long distance in Games 2 (4/28) and 3 (7/33).
“I think it’s human,” Messina said, responding to a question about whether the Spurs are frustrated that their shots aren’t falling. “But this is a game. It’s a sport and you can’t get frustrated. You’ve got to get back on the court and try to prove everybody wrong. And that’s it. There is nothing more than that.
“I think that as long as we can find open shots, we should not be worried. The problem is that when we pass (up) a shot because we are hesitant. That should never happen, and I’m confident that will not happen.”
Erin Popovich’s death has cast a pall over the playoff series for the Spurs, who said it was difficult on focus on basketball as they mourned with their longtime coach's loss.
How have the Silver and Black managed trying to muster up the will to fight for their playoff survival in Game 4 while they grieve?
“Very unique situation, never been through something like this,” veteran guard Manu Ginobili said. “You know how important Pop is, not only for us players, the whole organization and the whole NBA. Seeing and or feeling the way he should be feeling at this point, it hurts.
“We are struggling a little bit. Hopefully after these two and a half days, we’re going to be a little better. We’ll probably find a better situation emotionally, yeah, and hopefully it fuels us. But it’s hard to tell how a team is going to react, how your head is going to react. But for sure, it’s been different.”
