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 The series switches to Oklahoma City for Game 3 on Friday and Game
4 on Sunday before returning to San Antonio for the fifth game on
May 10.
Kevin Durant, who had 28 points, canned a floating jump shot off an
assist from Westbrook with 33 seconds left to give Oklahoma City a
96-91 lead but the Spurs responded with an Aldridge 3-pointer, just
his second of the season.
Westbrook then made two free throws with 18.3 seconds left to push
Oklahoma City's lead back to four points, at 98-94.
Aldridge hit three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point
attempt with 13.5 seconds left to bring the Spurs to within 98-97.
On the ensuing inbounds play, San Antonio's Danny Green stole the
ball from Durant and it was eventually passed in the corner to Patty
Mills, who missed a 3-pointer with two seconds left. The two teams
scrambled for the ball under the basket but the Spurs could not get
off another shot.
 Serge Ibaka, Enes Kanter and Steven Adams added 12 points apiece for
the Thunder and Adams pulled down 17 rebounds.
Aldridge led the Spurs with a season-high 41 points while Kawhi
Leonard had 14 points on 7-of-18 shooting. Manu Ginobili hit for 11
points for San Antonio, which lost for just the second time at home
all season.
The Thunder flipped the script from its ragged Game 1 start by going
right at San Antonio and building a 9-2 lead four minutes into the
game.
Westbrook had seven of Oklahoma City's first nine points while the
Spurs floundered from the field in the early moments, missing seven
layups and another shot five feet from the basket.
Oklahoma City's lead expanded to as much as 13 points through the
remainder of the quarter. The Spurs' reserve players helped bring
San Antonio to within nine points on a five occasions before a
Ginobili 3-pointer with 1 second to play in the period cut the
Thunder advantage to 29-21.
The Thunder had 12 free-throw attempts, and made eight of them, in
the first quarter while San Antonio did not go to the line.
Three-pointers by Mills and Green in the first two minutes of the
second quarter pulled the Spurs to within 29-27 and all but erased
all the good early work by Oklahoma City.
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Leonard hit his first basket of the game at the 8:13 mark of the
quarter to tie the game at 33 and gave the Spurs their first lead
since the first possession of the game, at 39-37, with a jumper a
minute and a half later.
The rest of the quarter was evenly played with the Thunder taking a
56-53 advantage at halftime. Westbrook led Oklahoma City with 18
point and Durant added 13. Aldridge paced San Antonio with 22 points
on 9-of-11 shooting in 21 minutes of play.
Oklahoma City outshot the Spurs 56.4-48.9 percent and had a 23-14
edge in rebounding. San Antonio was just 4-of-12 on uncontested
shots in the first half; it was 17-of-23 on such attempts in the
first half of Game 1.
Seven straight points by Westbrook in the middle of the third
quarter pushed the Thunder's lead back to 11 points, at 75-64, at
the 4:48 mark of the period.
But the Spurs surged back again, ending the quarter on a 12-2 run to
cut the Oklahoma City lead to 77-76.
Durant scored five of the Thunder's first seven points in the first
four minutes of the fourth quarter while the Spurs went almost five
minutes without a point, resulting in an 85-76 Oklahoma City lead.
But Green knocked down back-to-back 3-pointers to get San Antonio
back to 85-82, setting the stage for a furious finish.
(Editing by Peter Rutherford)
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