OAKLAND, Calif. -- During a San Antonio Spurs strategy meeting to figure "out how we're going to stop the [Golden State] Warriors," coach Gregg Popovich heard a distracting tapping sound to his left.
"He's got a computer in there, and he's just pounding away, and he happens to be Nick Kerr," Popovich joked. "I'm thinking, what's wrong with this picture? He's obviously sending everything to his father."
The son of Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, Nick Kerr serves as an intern in San Antonio's video department.
But it's clear the Warriors didn't need extra reconnaissance Thursday with Kevin Durant lighting up the Spurs for 14 consecutive points -- and 15 of the Warriors' final 19 points -- in the fourth quarter to finish with 37 points (14-of-26 shooting), 11 rebounds and 4 blocks to lead Golden State's 110-107 comeback victory.
Golden State captured its seventh consecutive victory, and moved within a half-game of the Houston Rockets in the Western Conference.
San Antonio, meanwhile, presided over yet another fourth-quarter meltdown; the sixth straight resulting in a loss. In their previous five defeats, the Spurs surrendered fourth-quarter leads, including three of the double-digit variety. So familiar feelings of previous fourth-quarter failings crept in when Golden State ran off a 6-0 run in the first 1:02 of the fourth quarter to close to the gap to 87-84, before Durant eventually closed out the show with a 17-6 Warriors run. LaMarcus Aldridge led the way with 30 points (on 11-of-20 shooting) and 17 rebounds, almost single-handedly keeping the Spurs afloat.
Golden State trotted out a team just as banged up as the Spurs, who were competing without their best player, Kawhi Leonard, who continues to recover from right quadriceps tendinopathy and Pau Gasol (right shoulder). The Warriors entered without Andre Iguodala (left wrist sprain), Jordan Bell (right ankle sprain) and David West (right arm cyst), only to receive even more alarming news when Stephen Curry tweaked his right ankle less than three minutes into the contest.
Curry suffered the injury with 9:38 left in the first quarter on a driving transition basket with Aldridge and Dejounte Murray defending. It appeared Curry didn't actually twist the ankle until after absorbing the foul, landing and taking a couple of steps toward the stanchion. The injury goes down as Curry's fourth right ankle sprain since early December. He left the game on San Antonio's ensuing possession, after sinking two free throws for Golden State's first points of the game, and headed to the Warriors' locker room.
The Warriors announced in the second quarter that Curry would not return.
Despite falling behind by as many as 11 points in the first half, the Spurs caught fire in the second quarter with an 8-0 run that grew to 20-4 as Aldridge and Davis Bertans scored eight points apiece in the quarter. The duo combined for 24 points in the first half, as the Spurs took a 50-46 advantage into intermission.
By the 3:02 mark of the third quarter, when Aldridge completed a run of scoring eight of San Antonio's previous 10 points, he had already produced 24 points to go with 15 rebounds.
Kyle Anderson notched three steals in the second quarter and became the first Spur in 15 years to record 8 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals in a single half, as San Antonio turned five Warriors turnovers into seven points.
The Spurs took their first lead since the 6:05 mark of the opening quarter on an Aldridge driving hook with 4:47 left in the first half that put the visitors ahead 37-36.
