Mills stands tall as Spurs edge Clippers

Australia's Patty Mills was hot from beyond the three-point line as the San Antonio Spurs defeated the LA Clippers 111-107 in game five of the playoffs.

Spurs' Kawhi Leonard and teammate Patty Mills

San Antonio have taken a 3-2 lead in their NBA playoff series with the Los Angeles Clippers. (AAP)

The San Antonio Spurs are just one win away from eliminating the Los Angeles Clippers from the NBA playoffs after a three-point barrage from Patty Mills in game five.

The Spurs won a 111-107 thriller on Tuesday in Los Angeles to take a 3-2 series lead, with game six in San Antonio on Thursday.

"It's only one and we have to get one more," Mills, who sank four-from-four three-pointers in his 13 points, told reporters.

Spurs veterans Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili singled out their Australian back-up point guard for igniting the team after they were struggling in the first half.

The only shot Mills missed was a field goal and one of his three pointers was a four-point play when he was fouled.

"That's what you have to do when you come off the bench - give the spark when it's needed," Mills said.

The crucial game five - with the series tied up at 2-2 - came down to a controversial call.

With 4.9 seconds to go it appeared Clippers power forward Blake Griffin sank a potentially game-winning basket, but centre DeAndre Jordan was called for goal-tending.

Mills' Boomers teammate Aron Baynes had almost 12 minutes of court time - the most since he was outplayed by Griffin in game one - before being fouled out of the game.

Baynes didn't score and had just two rebounds, but was part of the Spurs' bench with Mills that erased an eight-point first-half deficit.

The Spurs can close out the series and move on to play the Houston Rockets with a win over the Clippers on Thursday.

The Rockets eliminated their Texan rivals the Dallas Mavericks on Tuesday.

Houston took the series 4-1 with the 103-94 victory.

It is the first time the Rockets have moved on to the western conference semi-finals since 2009 when the team had Chinese centre Yao Ming.

Rockets MVP candidate James Harden scored 28 points while Dwight Howard had 18 points and 19 rebounds.

Monta Ellis led Dallas with 25 points and Dirk Nowitzki added 22.


Share

2 min read

Published

Updated

Source: AAP


Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world