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It's a catchphrase likely coming soon to fan T-shirts, Internetmemes and the lexicon of the NBA playoffs for the foreseeablefuture. "I want some nasty!" Gregg Popovich didn't just coin it. He snarled it, and the way hisSan Antonio Spurs obliged has the Western Conference finals off toa thrilling start. Manu Ginobili scored 26 points and the Spurs won their 19th in arow tying the NBA record for longest winning streak kept alivein the playoffs by rallying in the fourth quarter on the ordersof their furious coach to beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 101-98 inGame 1 on Sunday night. It was a tantalizing near-upset for the young Thunder, who came asclose as anybody to beating the Spurs for the first time in 46days. But a nine-point lead didn't last after the famouslymercurial 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 talkedto them about they've got to get a little bit uglier, get a littlemore nasty, play with more fiber and take it to these guys. Meaningyou 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 had17, and insisted he was OK after taking a spill that was nasty inits own right face first, bracing his fall with his hands andsitting under the basket for more than a minute while the entireThunder bench walked across the court to check on their All-Starpoint guard. "I shot good shots, made good passes," Durant said. "Unfortunately,we lost." After being held to just 16 third-quarter points, San Antonioscored 39 in the fourth. Westbrook chalked it up to a defensivebreakdown that "got out of hand" but it still left the Thunder insearch of the road win they'll need to in this series to reach theNBA finals for the first time since the franchise moved to OklahomaCity in 2009. Game 2 is Tuesday night. "How it happened is irrelevant," Thunder guard Derrick Fisher saidof 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 awinning streak this long in the playoffs and that Los Angelesteam did so on its way to a championship. The Spurs matched the fourth-longest streak in NBA history, andwith one more will become just the fourth team to surpass 20. TimDuncan had 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Tony Parker shook off adismal start to finish with 18 points. And of getting "nasty"? "Pop's always trying to motivate us," Parker said. But it was Ginobili who steered the Spurs to strike first in ahighly anticipated matchup of the West's top two teams forpractically the entire regular season. In his first game againstthe Thunder this year he was sidelined by injury in the threeregular-season meetings Ginobili put up a playoff high aftersputtering through the first two series. "It just happened," Ginobili said. "I don't know how exactlybecause I haven't scored like this all season long, but it happenedand I am very happy about it." On the other end, Oklahoma City's own Big Three struggled to findits shot early before awakening in the second half. Durant,Westbrook and James Harden at one point through the second quarterwere 5 of 21 - a typically ominous stat line for a trio that hadbeen responsible for nearly 70 percent of Oklahoma City's pointsthrough the playoffs so far. The Thunder were ousted in the Western Conference finals a year agoand were in position for home-court advantage throughout theplayoffs until being overtaken by the Spurs in the final month ofthe season. But it was a fittingly close opener for two franchiseswith so many similarities. That includes Thunder general manager Sam Presti the architectof the Thunder's rapid turnaround from a 23-win season toconsecutive Western Conference finals in just four years gettinghis big break in the NBA as intern in San Antonio. And the Thunder didn't even need their own Big Three to keep thingsclose. They leaned on none more so than Fisher, whose famous game-winnerfor the Lakers on this same court in the 2004 playoffs has made"0.4 seconds" a phrase that needs no further explanation to theSpurs. Eight years later, and the oldest player in this series at37, Fisher already met his playoff average at halftime and finishedwith 13 points. Gary Neal added 12 points and was the only other Spurs player indouble figures. Harden lost in the first round of his matchup with Ginobili, who'salso a lefty and a former Sixth Man of the Year winner. Hardenfinished with 19 points on 7-of-17 shooting but started by missingnine of his first dozen shots. Tipping off another conference finals couldn't happen soon enoughfor Oklahoma City. With nothing to do but prepare for the Spurs allweek and be asked about the Spurs the Thunder grew weary ofquestions about being perceived underdogs. About not having thesame championship pedigree. About how they'll possibly stop a teamrolling through one of the 10 longest winning streaks in NBAhistory. So repetitive were the questions that Durant, visibly annoyed,suggested earlier this week that someone instead ask how theThunder are going "to come at" the Spurs. That didn't stop OklahomaCity from facing more of the same at shootaround Sunday morning,when Thunder coach Scott Brooks tried quashing again the idea histeam was somehow intimidated. "They're not going to be in awe. They're going to have respect forthem," Brooks said. "We know we can beat them." They've still got to prove it. I am an expert from windowcleaningplatform.com, while we provides the quality product, such as China Suspended Access Cradles , Window Cleaning Cradle, High Rise Maintenance Platform,and more.
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