SAN ANTONIO — It’s a catchphrase likely coming soon to fan T-shirts, Internet memes and the lexicon of the NBA playoffs for the foreseeable future.
“I want some nasty!”
Gregg Popovich didn’t just coin it. He snarled it, and the way his San Antonio Spurs obliged has the Western Conference finals off to a thrilling start.
Manu Ginobili scored 26 points, and the Spurs won their 19th in a row — tying the NBA record for longest winning streak kept alive in the playoffs — by rallying in the fourth quarter on the orders of their furious coach to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 101-98 in Game 1 on Sunday night.
It was a tantalizing near-upset for the young Thunder, who came as close as anybody to beating the Spurs for the first time in 46 days. But a nine-point lead didn’t last after the famously mercurial 63-year-old Popovich — the NBA’s Coach of the Year — huddled his lagging team together in the fourth and told them to “get nasty.”
“I said that?” Popovich said afterward.
A nationally television audience heard it.
“The heat of the game, stuff comes up,” Popovich said. “So I talked to them about they’ve got to get a little bit uglier, get a little more nasty, play with more fiber and take it to these guys. Meaning you have to drive it, you have to shoot it.”
And when they did, the Thunder couldn’t keep up.
Kevin Durant led the Thunder with 27 points. Russell Westbrook had 17 and insisted he was OK after taking a spill that was nasty in its own right — face first, bracing his fall with his hands and sitting under the basket for more than a minute while the entire Thunder bench walked across the court to check on their All-Star point guard.
“I shot good shots, made good passes,” Durant said. “Unfortunately, we lost.”
After being held to just 16 third-quarter points, San Antonio scored 39 in the fourth. Westbrook chalked it up to a defensive breakdown that “got out of hand,” but it still left the Thunder in search of the road win they’ll need to in this series to reach the NBA finals for the first time since the franchise moved to Oklahoma City in 2009.
“How it happened is irrelevant,” Thunder guard Derrick Fisher said of letting a lead slip away. “Whether we lose by 20 or lose by one, we lost.”
That’s something the Spurs haven’t been able to say since April 11. They joined the 2001 Lakers as the only other team to carry a winning streak this long in the playoffs — and that Los Angeles team did so on its way to a championship.
Spurs 101, Thunder 98
OKLAHOMA CITY (98)
Durant 8-19 11-12 27, Ibaka 1-3 3-3 5, Perkins 1-4 3-4 5, Westbrook 7-21 1-2 17, Sefolosha 3-7 0-0 7, Harden 7-17 0-0 19, Collison 2-3 1-2 5, Fisher 6-8 0-0 13, Cook 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 35-83 19-23 98.
SAN ANTONIO (101)
Leonard 3-9 0-0 7, Duncan 6-15 4-6 16, Diaw 4-6 0-0 8, Parker 6-15 5-7 18, Green 0-6 0-0 0, Ginobili 9-14 5-5 26, Bonner 0-2 0-0 0, Neal 5-9 0-0 12, Splitter 4-5 1-5 9, S.Jackson 1-2 2-2 5. Totals 38-83 17-25 101.
Oklahoma City 18 29 24 27 — 98
San Antonio 24 22 16 39 — 101
3-Point Goals—Oklahoma City 9-23 (Harden 5-9, Westbrook 2-3, Fisher 1-3, Sefolosha 1-3, Cook 0-1, Durant 0-4), San Antonio 8-24 (Ginobili 3-5, Neal 2-4, S.Jackson 1-2, Parker 1-2, Leonard 1-3, Diaw 0-1, Bonner 0-2, Green 0-5). Fouled Out—None. Rebounds—Oklahoma City 48 (Durant 10), San Antonio 57 (Duncan 11). Assists—Oklahoma City 18 (Westbrook 5), San Antonio 22 (Parker 6). Total Fouls—Oklahoma City 24, San Antonio 18. A—18,581 (18,797).
