Patty Mills' San Antonio Spurs are on the brink of being eliminated from the NBA Western Conference Finals after going down 120-108 to Golden State in game three.
The Spurs were on their home court on Saturday, but with All-Stars Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard out injured they were no match for the talented and merciless Warriors.
The Warriors successfully executed their plan to defensively target Australian point guard Mills and ran away with the match to take a 3-0 series lead.
If the Warriors defeat the Spurs in Monday's game four in San Antonio they will book a place in their third consecutive NBA Finals series.
Warriors' acting head coach Mike Brown singled out his 201cm tall guard Klay Thompson's defence on the 183cm tall streak shooting Mills.
"Klay doesn't get enough credit," Brown told reporters.
"He has an incredible defensive assignment in this series."
Brown said the Warriors noted the Spurs won 40 games and lost just four this season when Mills scored 10 points or more in a game.
In game three, largely due to Thompson's defence, the Canberra-born point guard had just seven points and missed eight of his 10 shots.
Mills didn't score a point in the second-half.
"Klay is chasing a guy like Patty Mills around," Brown said.
"One of our keys coming into the series was make life as tough as possible on him because when he gets going his team wins usually."
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich called out his squad after their 136-100 game two loss for feeling sorry for themselves and lacking in belief, but he refused to admonish his team again.
Popovich, a five-time NBA champion coach, heaped praise on the Warriors.
He described the Warriors as a "hell of a team" boasting four All-Stars - Thompson, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green - in their starting five.
"The competitiveness was great, but every time you look up you are playing against four All-Stars so you better be perfect," Popovich said.
Durant had 33 points, 10 rebounds, four assists, two steals and a block, Curry had a relatively quiet 21 points and Green contributed 10 points and seven rebounds.
Thompson, usually a deadly shooter, managed 17 points despite focusing on taking Mills out defensively.
Spurs' veteran Manu Ginobili fought for 21 points, LaMarcus Aldridge was again bottled up and managed just 18 points while forward Jonathon Simmons relished a starting spot in Leonard's absence with 14 points.
The Warriors, in the Western Conference, and the Cleveland Cavaliers, in the Eastern Conference, appear destined to battle in the NBA Finals for the third straight year.
Both teams are undefeated in the post season.
The Cavaliers, led by LeBron James, destroyed the Boston Celtics 130-86 on Friday and hold a 2-0 series lead.
The Celtics lost their leader Isaiah Thomas for the season in the game with a hip injury.
Game three is in Cleveland on Sunday.
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