With series tied at two wins a piece, Game 5 between the San Antonio Spurs and the Houston Rockets was set to be played on Tuesday night.
AT&T Center in downtown San Antonio was fully packed once again with more than 18,000 fans looking to see their Spurs' take a 3-2 series lead. They would have to do so without the services of their starting point guard Tony Parker who will miss the rest of the playoffs after surgery to repair a ruptured left quadriceps tendon. Gregg Popovich decided to start Patty Mills in Parker's place in Game 5 after starting rookie Dejounte Murray in Games 3 and 4.
The Rockets were also shorthanded on Tuesday night as they played without their backup center Nene. Nene is out for the remainder of the postseason after tearing his left adductor in Game 4.
Houston had lost four straight best-of-seven series when it was tied 2-2. The last time the Rockets won a series after being tied 2-2 was in the 1995 Western Conference finals when they beat the Spurs.
Back-and-forth game to the very end
San Antonio opened up the game with an early 15-9 lead in the first quarter as both teams scored at will in the opening period. The score was 32-29 for the home team after the first 12 minutes of the game. Houston responded with a 31-point second quarter, and at halftime, the Rockets held a 60-58 lead.
Early in the third quarter, Houston had its biggest lead of the game at 9 points (72-63), but they couldn't pull away. The Spurs responded by ending the quarter on a 9-3 run and held an 86-85 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Teams went back-and-forth in the final period and with the score tied at 101-101 Patty Mills failed to take a shot on the final possession of the game that went to overtime.
San Antonio outscored Houston 9-6 in the overtime and ended up with an 110-107 win in Game 5. Gregg Popovich's squad finished the game with 24 assists and just seven turnovers. They outrebounded the Rockets 52-47 while forcing them into 15 turnovers for the match.
Balanced scoring for the Spurs in Game 5 victory
San Antonio had six players scoring at least 12 points in Game 5 win.
Kawhi Leonard led them with 22 points and 15 rebounds in 38 minutes of action. He stepped on Harden's foot while running back in transition with 5:37 left in the third quarter and then played limited minutes before sitting out over time.
It remains to bee seen whether he will play in Game 6 or not. Patty Mills finished with 20 points and four assists while Manu Ginobili added 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists off the bench. Ginobili blocked James Harden's potential tying 3-pointer in the final seconds of OT.
It was Harden who led Houston in scoring again. He finished Tuesday's game with a triple-double of 33 points, ten rebounds, and ten assists but also had nine turnovers. Patrick Beverley added 20, while Ryan Anderson scored 19 points off the bench for the Rockets.
The Spurs now hold a 3-2 series lead with Game 6 to be played on Thursday night in Houston. The winner of this series will face the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.
