Something has got to change http://www.dallascowboysteamonline.com/michael-gallup-jersey , and in a hurry, if the San Antonio Spurs are going to get back into their Western Conference first-round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors.

The Spurs will get that chance when they host the Warriors in Game 3 on Thursday at the AT&T Center in San Antonio.

San Antonio will do it with a heavy heart. On Wednesday night, the Spurs announced that Erin Popovich, the wife of San Antonio coach Greg Popovich, died early Wednesday. She was 67 and had been battling an illness for an extended period.

The couple had been married for four decades and had two children, Jill and Mickey, and two grandchildren.

“We mourn the loss of Erin,” said Spurs general manager R.C. Buford in a statement released late Wednesday. “She was a strong, wonderful, kind, intelligent woman who provided love, support and humor to all of us.”

The organization asked media and fans to respect the family’s privacy during the difficult time.

It is not known whether Popovich would be with the team on Thursday for Game 3 of the Western Conference first-round series. He did conduct practice on Wednesday.

“The whole NBA family is supporting him, got his back through it all. Feel so bad for Pop,” Warriors star forward Kevin Durant told reporters Wednesday night.

Assistant coach Ettore Messina would likely step into the head coaching role for the Spurs if Popovich were to miss Game 3.

Golden State, the defending NBA champs but just the second-seeded team from the West after an uneven and injury-plagued regular season Geron Christian Jersey , did what it was expected to do in the first two games of this series — the Warriors held their home court in decisive fashion, winning 113-92 last Saturday and 116-101 in Monday in Oakland.

Now it’s up to the Spurs, who had the third best home record in the NBA during the regular season, winning 33 of the 41 games in their building while earning their 21st straight appearance in the postseason.

The two teams are without star players — Golden State guard Stephen Curry is out while rehabbing a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his left knee, and San Antonio forward Kawhi Leonard is still in recovery mode from a left quad injury that’s kept him out for all but nine games this season.

Both squads still have plenty of star power, but through the first two games, the Warriors have just played better, especially on the defensive end.

Game 2 came down to the fact that Golden State made more shots than the Spurs, with Durant scoring a team-leading 32 points on 10-of-19 shooting, and Klay Thompson adding 31 points on a 12-of-20 clip.

“You chase Klay all over the place, and you give him half an inch, he gets it off,” Spurs guard Manu Ginobili said about Thompson. “Same with Kevin. They are good. When they can do things like that, everything is harder.”

The Spurs countered with 34 points and 12 rebounds from LaMarcus Aldridge despite Golden State’s defense that surrounded him and tried to force the ball out of his hands. Patty Mills added 21 points for San Antonio, and Rudy Gay — earning his first playoff start since 2012 — added 12 points.

Durant missed his first five 3-point attempts but steadied himself and the team by scoring 13 points while going 4-of-6 from the field and 2-of-4 from beyond the arc in the second half.

“We were just patient throughout the game http://www.chicagobearsteamonline.com/anthony-miller-jersey ,” Durant said. “We knew they were going to be physical. We weren’t going to get the same looks that we were getting for Game. 1 So we just tried to just keep the movement up. When we get the rocks, just try to be as forceful as we can with it and exploit the matchups.”

Golden State took a solid punch from the Spurs in Game 2 and still won, handily in fact. The Warriors know that winning in the Alamo City will be no easy task.

“We knew what was coming,” Golden State coach Steve Kerr said. “This is the NBA. Those guys are talented. They’re great players. This is what you expect. But I’m proud of our guys for staying with it.”

Including the regular season and playoffs, the Warriors have won 10 of the last 11 meetings against San Antonio.

Craig Smith scored twice and Ryan Johansen had the go-ahead goal late in the third period to help the Nashville Predators beat the Washington Capitals 4-3 Thursday night to clinch first place in the Central Division, the top seed in the Western Conference and the best record in the NHL.

Even though it’ll be Pekka Rinne in net for the Predators when they open the playoffs next week, backup Juuse Saros stopped 28 of the 31 shots and captain Roman Josi scored on the power play to give them their first division title in 19 seasons of existence.

Nashville has a franchise-record 52 victories and will open the playoffs against the second wild card in the West as it tries to return to the Stanley Cup Final. The Predators clinched the Presidents’ Trophy for the league’s top record when Boston lost to Florida 3-2 later Thursday. Nashville watched from the arena as the Panthers scored late in the third period to top the Bruins.

Evgeny Kuznetsov scored twice and Alex Ovechkin added his NHL-leading 47th goal of the season for the Metropolitan-champion Capitals, who have nothing left to play for and could still face any of a handful of teams in the first round. Philipp Grubauer made 25 saves and strengthened his case to be Washington’s Game 1 playoff starter over 2016 Vezina Trophy winner Braden Holtby.

CANUCKS 4, COYOTES 3, OT

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) – Daniel Sedin scored on a power play 2:33 into overtime with his brother Henrik Sedin earning an assist in their final home game before retiring after 17 seasons with Vancouver.

The twins were mobbed by teammates after the goal. Fans were on their feet the minute the Sedins went over the boards after Arizona’s Richard Panik was called for hooking. The goal came when Henrik passed back to Daniel, who blasted a shot from the blue line.

After the game, the two brothers slowly skated around the ice at Rogers Arena, waving at the fans.

The brothers had combined for a goal earlier in the game, with Daniel scoring and Henrik assisting again.

Christian Fischer Joe Looney Jersey , Derek Stepan and Dylan Strome scored for Arizona.

Jake Virtanen and Brendan Leipsic got the other goals for the Canucks. Both teams will miss the playoffs.

DEVILS 2, MAPLE LEAFS 1

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) – The New Jersey Devils are back in the playoffs for the first time since 2012.

Patrick Maroon set up second-period goals by Pavel Zacha and Miles Wood and the Devils ended a five-year postseason drought with the victory over Toronto.

Keith Kinkaid, the mainstay in goal since the end of January, made 31 saves as the Devils won their fourth straight and extended their points streak to eight games (7-0-1). He preserved the lead with a stop in close on Austin Matthews with just over seven minutes to play.

New Jersey is 10-2-1 in its last 13 in going from the worst team in the Eastern Conference a year ago to one that will get a chance to start playing for the Stanley Cup next week. After it was over, the players went to center ice and saluted the fans who were standing for much of the final minute.

William Nylander scored on a power play in the first period for Toronto to ice his second straight 20-goal season. Frederik Anderson was outstanding, making 37 saves, including saves on breakaways by Taylor Hall and Michael Grabner in the big second period.

The loss was only the fourth in 13 games (9-3) for the Maple Leafs.

KINGS 5, WILD 4, OT

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Dustin Brown scored his fourth goal of the game 23 seconds into overtime and Los Angeles moved into third place in the Pacific Division.

Brown scored on a sharp-angle shot from the left circle to put the Kings one point ahead of Anaheim in the division. He set a career high with his 61st point.

Tobias Rieder also scored, and Daniel Brickley had an assist for his first point in his NHL debut. Jonathan Quick made 23 saves for the Kings’ fourth win in five games.

Matt Dumba scored for the second straight game, and Nate Prosser had a short-handed goal for the Wild, who will play Winnipeg in the first round of the playoffs. Ryan Murphy and Eric Staal each had a goal, and Alex Stalock made 23 saves.

FLYERS 4, HURRICANES 3

PHILADELPHIA (AP) – Jakub Voracek scored with 5:45 left to lift Philadelphia past Carolina.

Claude Giroux http://www.chicagobearsteamonline.com/tarik-cohen-jersey , Ivan Provorov and Michael Raffl also scored for Philadelphia. The Flyers would have clinched a playoff spot if Boston beat Florida, but the Panthers topped the Bruins 3-2.

The Flyers seemed in great shape when Giroux put them up 3-2 with 9:42 remaining behind a wrist shot that beat goalie Scott Darling. It extended the Flyers captain’s career-high totals to 31 goals and 98 points. The Hurricanes erased the lead when Brian Elliott let in his second soft goal of the game, this one Jordan Staal’s backhander from a sharp angle near the side boards with 6:19 left.

Elliott returned after missing 25 games following core muscle surgery Feb. 13.

Klas Dahlbeck and Sebastian Aho also scored for Carolina.

PANTHERS 3, BRUINS 2

SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) – Jared McCann scored with 5:37 left and Roberto Luongo got the win in his 1,000th career game, helping Florida beat Boston to stay in playoff contention.

The Panthers trail Philadelphia by four points for the final Eastern Conference wild card and have two games remaining, including a matchup Sunday night with Boston. Florida needs to win both games and have the Flyers lose to the New York Rangers in regulation Saturday.

The 39-year-old Luongo became the third goalie to reach the 1,000-game mark, joining Hall of Famers Martin Brodeur (1,266) and Patrick Roy (1,029). He stopped 26 shots Thursday.

Aleksander Barkov sc Adidas Erik Karlsson Jersey