LONE STAR STATE??

Out on the hardwood, with the lights shining its brightest on his lone star, just how lonely is it to be Kevin Durant these days?

During the same time last year, he was battling the same team with Russell Westbrook and James Harden en route to a series win in seven games. A year later, after the questionable Harden trade, and a freak Westbrook injury, Durant finds himself needing to lead his team to three straight wins to get back to the Western Conference Finals.

Even after losing Harden to the trade, the Thunder looked to be the biggest threat to a Miami repeat. Now that Kevin Durant has to seemingly do it all for the Thunder just to even compete with a seasoned Grizzlies team, who’s a much better version of themselves, it would take a legendary three-game stretch from Durant to get closer to even sniffing the Heat.

The Grizzlies have had to play their A-game to get to this 3-1 series lead against their conquerors from last year, and could have already been in the West Finals had it not been for a string of crucial turnovers in Game 1. But make no mistake about it, even with Durant needing to make all the plays, as well as taking even more of the scoring load, the Thunder have been in there in all three losses. They are still a very good team, it’s just that with the absence of the irrepressible Russell Westbrook, the Grizz have been just a tad bit better.

It doesn’t help that the supposed second-best player on the active Thunder roster, Serge Ibaka, is shooting under 35 percent from the field, while being thoroughly outplayed by Zach Randolph. It doesn’t help when Durant misses 17 of his 27 shots (with only seven shots in the paint), and takes only three free throws in a Game 4 overtime loss. And it definitely doesn’t help when their starting center, who has averaged 25 minutes in the series, averages 2.5 point and 4.5 rebounds while making just 15.8 percent of his shots.

Again, as subpar as the individual Thunder performances have been, they’ve had a shot of winning every game of the series. But finding themselves needing to sweep the last three remaining games, have dug themselves too deep of a hole against a team that’s due for redemption?

Durant has been great with all eyes on him (30.8 points per game, 11 rebounds and 6.8 assists in the series), but he has to be better. That’s the tricky part about being a transcendent talent, people will always be expecting more. Durant recently said he’s tired of being second, now he’ll be lucky just to get out of the second round.

Spurs hold off Warriors, advance to West finals

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Slow at the start of the series and strong at the end, the San Antonio Spurs wore out the Golden State Warriorsthe way they have so many other opponents.

Tim Duncan had 19 points and six rebounds, Kawhi Leonard added 16 points and 10 rebounds and the Spurs held off a furious final rally to beat the Warriors 94-82 in Game 6 on Thursday night and advance to the Western Conference finals.

''They've got great character. They're competitive. They know there's not a million chances to do this sort of thing. They wanted it,'' Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.

Tony Parker shook off a poor start to score 10 of his 13 points in the fourth quarter and Tiago Splitter added a career-playoff high 14 points for San Antonio, which had a 13-point lead in the third quarter dissolve to two in the final minutes.

Stephen Curry shot 10 of 25 from the floor to score 22 points on a nagging left ankle, and Jarrett Jack had 15 points as the injury-saddled Warriors finally tired. The Spurs outshot Golden State 45 percent to 39 percent and outrebounded them 46 to 40.

Second-seeded San Antonio will open the conference finals at home against Memphis on Sunday. The fifth-seeded Grizzlies eliminated Oklahoma City in five games.

The Spurs lost to the Thunder in the conference finals in six games last season after going ahead 2-0. They haven't been to the NBA Finals since 2007, when they won their fourth title with a sweep ofLeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Spurs became the first team to win consecutive games in the series and hand the Warriors consecutive losses in the playoffs - and they did it at just the right time.

The Spurs quieted a standing-room-only crowd late in the third quarter and seemingly seized control for good. Instead, the Warriors roared back.

Klay Thompson, who had 10 points on 4-for-12 shooting, made a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter that sliced San Antonio's lead to three. Then Curry's pull-up jumper brought the Warriors within 77-75 with 4:52 to play.

Parker was 1 for 13 before hitting a corner 3-pointer before Leonard followed with two free throws to put the Spurs up seven.

Jack made a jumper and two free throws to bring the Warriors back again. Then Leonard hit another corner 3-pointer for the Spurs to go ahead 85-79.

Curry and Thompson each had consecutive 3s rim out on the same possession that could've kept Golden State close. But Parker hit another 3-pointer to put San Antonio up 88-79 with 1:15 remaining and send some of the yellow-shirted crowd of 19,596 heading to the exits.

In the end, most still stuck around.

Fans serenaded the home team with chants of ''Warr-i-ors!'' in the final seconds. Curry also grabbed the microphone after the game and thanked fans at half court, breaking the huddle with the crowd, ''Just us!''

The Warriors had only made the playoffs once since 1994 before this season and hadn't won two games after the first round since 1977.

''It's inspiring to think of what we were able to accomplish this year and the foundation that has been laid,'' Warriors coach Mark Jackson said.

The Spurs showed incredible ball movement and had the Warriors playing from behind most of the way. San Antonio's first 10 field goals came on an assist, going ahead by 10 points in the second quarter and maintaining that cushion until late.

Golden State stayed close despite more injury setbacks in a season full of them. Andrew Bogut walked gingerly to the locker room with 8:31 remaining in the second quarter to get his troublesome left ankle re-tapped. Upstart rookie Harrison Barnes fell awkwardly while leaping to contest a layup in the second quarter from Boris Diaw.

Barnes hit the court hard and his teammates immediately called for the training staff to attend to him as the arena fell silent. He received six stitches above his right eye at halftime and ran on the court late to start the third quarter, bringing fans to their feet roaring once more.

At least for a moment.

Barnes left the game in the fourth quarter because of a headache, the team said. He finished with nine points and four rebounds in 31 minutes.

The steady Spurs kept making the Warriors work for every shot and grinding out points on the other end. San Antonio took a 61-48 lead late in the third quarter before Golden State started its final surge.

The Spurs made sure it wasn't enough.

NOTES: NBA Commissioner David Stern, Sacramento Mayor Kevin Johnson and prospective Kings owner Vivek Ranadive attended the game. ... The Spurs are 10-1 in closeout games since the start of the 2007 playoffs. ... Parker's worst shooting performance in the playoffs with more than five shot attempts came when he was 1 of 12 against New Jersey in the 2003 NBA Finals won by the Spurs. ... The Warriors fell to 4-1 after a loss in the playoffs.

Photo: San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker (9) reacts to a call from referee Zach Zarba (33) in the second quarter against the Golden State Warriors in Game 6 of a Western Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series in Oakland, Calif., Thursday, May 16, 2013. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

Knicks Staying alive

Knick live to fight another day.

New York Knicks' Carmelo Anthony smiles with teammates during the second half of Game 5 at Madison Square Garden in New York, Thursday, May 16. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

NEW YORK – Sinking fast with the weight of a 3-1 series deficit, the New York Knicks kept their playoffs mortality afloat Thursday night (Friday Manila time) by beating the physically imposing Indiana Pacers, 85-75, in an ugly Game 5 scrum at the Madison Square Garden here in midtown Manhattan.

Although the Knicks will see the light of another day, the danger of elimination continues to loom large as Game 6 of this best-of-seven affair returns to Indianapolis on Saturday night (Sunday Manila time), when the Pacers go for the clincher in front of their basketball crazy home crowd,

The Conseco Fieldhouse has been a torture chamber for the Knicks in this Eastern Conference semifinal. They lost Games 3 and 4 there by a combined 22 points while their offense mustered only 76.5 points per outing. Against the long and quick Pacers defense, New York couldn't hit the broadside of a barn at Conseco, making just a combined 61 of 158 field goals for a lowly 38.6 percent clip.   

But fueled by the desire to keep their season going, New York took care of business at home and continued the quest to become only the ninth team in the history of the NBA playoffs to come back from a 3-1 deficit.

According to ESPN, Knicks star Carmelo Anthony has converted just 33 of 88 attempts from Games 1 to 4. He carried those struggles with him in Game 5, missing 16 of 28 shots, but Melo's 28 points were huge in a defensive brawl that saw the Pacers and Knicks miss a combined 90 field goals.

Source:nba.com

http://ph.nba.com/?gr=www

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