PLAYOFFS 2012
WESTERN CONFERENCE NBA FINAL
SAN ANTONIO SPURS VS OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
GAME 6, LIVE
The San Antonio Spurs visit the house of the Oklahoma City Thunder for the game 6 of the NBA Playoffs. The victory was the third in a row and the Thunder have move a 0-2 deficit and made just one win (3-2) of first reaching the NBA Finals since they are in Oklahoma City.
Down and nearly out less than a week ago, the Oklahoma City Thunder are riding a momentum shift to the brink of the NBA finals.
Game 1: Final, Oklahoma City 98, San Antonio 101 (San Antonio lead 1-0)
Game 2: Final, Oklahoma City 111, San Antonio 120 (San Antonio lead 2-0)
Game 3: Final, San Antonio 82, Oklahoma City 102 (San Antonio lead 2-1)
Game 4: Final, San Antonio 103, Oklahoma City 109 (Game Tied 2-2)
Game 5: Final, Oklahoma City 108, San Antonio 103 ( Oklahoma City lead 3-2)
Game 6: Wed, Jun 6 9:00 PM ET San Antonio vs Oklahoma City (Today)
With three straight wins, the Thunder have changed the conversation from how anyone can stop the San Antonio Spurs' record-setting 20-game winning streak to how Oklahoma City needs just one win on its home court in Game 6 on Wednesday night to play for the NBA title. Hundreds of fans waited in the middle of the night for the Thunder's plane to land after Game 5, and thousands more will pack Chesapeake Energy Arena to cheer Oklahoma City on. Yet coach Scott Brooks urged Tuesday that riding the momentum isn't enough to get the job done. ''We have a great opportunity, we're on our home floor but that doesn't guarantee automatic victory,'' Brooks said during a day off at the team's practice facility. ''They're not going to give us the game. They're not just going to say, 'We've lost three in a row, we're going to give in.' We know we have a tough challenge ahead.''
Brooks stood near the same spot just a week earlier, surprised when a reporter told him that only 6 percent of NBA teams over the years had overcome an 0-2 deficit in a seven-game series. Now, his Thunder could become only the 15th team to pull off the feat - and the eighth since 2004.
''The percentages, you can't really feed into that because you know that there's always a chance,'' Brooks said. ''There's 48 minutes to prove that you're the better team that night, and we have an opportunity tomorrow night to do that again.''
A series of defensive adjustments by Brooks helped turn the series, with 6-foot-7 Thabo Sefolosha switching onto All-Star point guard Tony Parker in Game 3 the most visible change. The Spurs have been tinkering ever since to get back in the groove they'd been riding since mid-April but instead have lost three straight games for the first time all season.