San Antonio Spurs’ Tony Parker (9) shoots as Portland Trail Blazers’ Robin Lopez (42) and Wesley Matthews (2) defend in the first quarter during Game 3 of a Western Conference semifinal NBA basketball playoff series Saturday, May 10, 2014, in Portland, Ore. AP
PORTLAND—San Antonio put one foot into the NBA Western Conference finals with a 118-103 win at Portland on Sunday (Manila time) to take a 3-0 lead in their series.
Tony Parker scored 29 points for the Spurs, who built a big early lead — just as they had in the opening two games of the series — by going 23 points up on the Trail Blazers in the first half, and controlled the game from there.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 21 points and 12 rebounds for the Portland, which pulled within eight points in the third quarter but couldn’t get any closer. The Blazers were hurt by 15 turnovers and only six points from their bench.
No NBA team has come back from a 3-0 deficit to win a seven-game series, suggesting San Antonio is bound for a Western Conference decider against either Oklahoma City or the Los Angeles Clippers. The Thunder leads that series 2-1.
The Blazers took a brief 13-12 lead midway through the first quarter but the Spurs surged to score 16 of the next 20 points to take a grip on the contest.
Parker’s back-to-back 3-pointers gave the Spurs a 58-35 late first-half lead and they went into the break ahead 60-40.
Portland rallied to get the deficit back to manageable proportions at 68-60, but the Spurs kept the Blazers from coming any closer and led 83-69 going into the fourth, and they were not troubled in the last.
The Spurs have a 3-2 series advantage over Portland in the playoffs, sweeping the previous meeting in the 1999 conference finals. The teams split the regular-season series 2-2.
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