Game 6 is Wednesday night in Oklahoma City, where the Thunder can punch their ticket to the NBA Finals in the place they haven't lost all postseason. They're bringing home just what they needed: the must-win on the road if they're going to pull this series out.
Oklahoma City pulled it off behind its stars. James Harden scored 20, joining Durant and Westbrook as the only Thunder players in double figures.
Harden hit the biggest shot, draining a three-pointer with 28.8 seconds left that pushed Oklahoma City's lead to five. He acknowledged afterward that the ball was supposed to go to Durant but had no choice but to let go with the shot clock winding down and Spurs rookie Kawhi Leonard in his face.
"The shot clock was running down and I had to make a play," Harden said. "Leonard was playing great defense on me. I just shot it with confidence. West Conference finals - that's a big shot."
Tony Parker had 20 points and Tim Duncan had 18 points and 12 rebounds for the Spurs.
After remaining unbeaten for 50 days before arriving in Oklahoma City, San Antonio has lost three games in 5 day. They now must win two straight to avoid seeing their last best chance to win in a title in the Duncan era end.
"Championship teams win on the road," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "Oklahoma City just did that."
It's the first time the Spurs have lost three in a row all season.
"That was a total team effort," Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. "Everybody did their job. I thought we played as hard as we can play."
Durant scored 22 of his points in the second half. Westbrook also had 12 assists.
Noteworthy
* The Lakers have exercised their $16.1 million contract option for next season on All-Star center Andrew Bynum. Los Angeles announced the move Monday. General manager Mitch Kupchak confirmed last month the Lakers would exercise the option.
Bynum is coming off his best NBA season after averaging career highs with 18.7 points and 11.8 rebounds while making his first All-Star team, starting for the West. He was the NBA's third-leading rebounder and 20th-leading scorer while also ranking sixth in the league with 1.93 blocked shots per game.
* The Portland Trail Blazers have hired former Los Angeles Clippers GM Neil Olshey as the team's new general manager. The announcement by the Blazers on Monday came less than an hour after the Clippers announced that they had decided to part ways with Olshey.
Last season, Olshey oversaw a major retooling of the Clippers' roster that included signing All-Star Chris Paul in December in the biggest trade in franchise history. In the same 6-day span, Olshey signed All-Stars Caron Butler and Chauncey Billups, and re-signed DeAndre Jordan.
* Jim Fitzgerald, who owned the Milwaukee Bucks during a successful era in the early 1980s and went on to own the Golden State Warriors, died Monday.
The Bucks said the 86-year-old Fitzgerald died Monday morning, but a cause of death was not released.
"Jim was a great man and he taught us more than just basketball," former Bucks player Junior Bridgeman said in a statement. He said a group got together to visit Fitzgerald last year, something he said players don't usually do unless there's an "affinity" that goes beyond just us playing for someone.
"It was a family, and today we lost a member of that family," he said.
Fitzgerald is survived by his wife, six children, 15 grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.
* The Bobcats interviewed Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Quin Snyder on Monday in Chicago about their head coaching vacancy, said a person familiar with the situation. Snyder, a former assistant coach with the Sixers and head coach at Missouri, becomes the 10th candidate to interview for the Bobcats opening.
* Randy Wittman will return as the coach of the Washington Wizards. The team announced Monday that Wittman will keep the job he accepted after Flip Saunders was fired early in the season. Wittman had previously been an assistant on Saunders' staff.
