Patty Mills has labelled the San Antonio Spurs' defence soft in their blowout game four loss to the Houston Rockets.
The Rockets never trailed in the 125-104 victory in Houston on Sunday to even the best-of-seven Western Conference semi-final series 2-2.
Game five is on Tuesday in San Antonio.
Mills said defensive breakdowns by his Spurs left the Rockets' lethal three-point shooters open.
The Rockets sank 19 three-pointers compared to the Spurs' seven.
"They made a few adjustments that we couldn't adjust to on the fly and it ended up leaving us playing soft and exposing our individual defence," Mills told reporters.
Mills had 10 points and five assists while the Spurs' All-Star Kawhi Leonard, who averages 30 points a game, was kept to just 16.
The Rocket's point guard Patrick Beverley played through tears after learning just a few hours before the game his grandfather, who raised him and nine other children in Chicago, had died.
"To have him taken away from me is super hard," Beverley said.
Beverley had 10 points while teammate James Harden led the way with 28 points and 12 assists.
The Rockets' back-up Brazilian big man Nene pulled a groin muscle and is in doubt for the rest of the series.
Houston's lopsided win continues a roller-coaster series where the winning team has won by double figures.
"We know we can play a lot better individual defence," Mills said.
"We've done it many times, but their adjustments just made us play soft."
The Spurs' longtime starting point guard Tony Parker is out for the season after a quadriceps injury in game two.
Rookie point guard Dejounte Murray started games three and four, with Mills coming off the bench.
LeBron James' defending champion Cleveland Cavaliers are through to the Eastern Conference finals after sweeping the Toronto Raptors 4-0 to maintain a perfect playoff record this season.
They also swept the Indiana Pacers in the first round.
The Cavaliers beat the Raptors in Toronto 109-102 on Saturday with James scoring 35 points and Kyrie Irving adding 27 points.
It continues a phenomenal playoff record for James as he is going to the Eastern Conference finals for the seventh consecutive time and ninth time in 14 years.
The Cavaliers' will play the winner of the Washington Wizards and Boston Celtics.
The Wizards won 121-102 on Sunday to square the series 2-2 with Washington guards Bradley Beal and John Wall dominating with 29 and 27 points respectively.
Celtics guard Isaiah Thomas started hot with 17 points in the first 15 minutes but he only scored two more for the rest of the game.
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