Spurs call Grizzlies bluff, now one win from NBA Finals

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — They bluffed.

The Memphis Grizzlies came out and pummeled the San Antonio Spurs with quick hands and swatting arms, their swarming defense helping to forge a huge early lead.

Then the Spurs fixed their wayward offense and the Grizzlies reverted to long stretches of the ragged play that has characterized a series that could soon be over.

Tim Duncan was an ageless wonder in overtime for a second consecutive game, helping San Antonio tilt things heavily in its favor with a 104-93 victory Saturday night at FedEx Forum in Game 3 of the Western Conference finals.

Two days after being selected first team All-NBA at age 37, Duncan scored seven points in the extra period as the Spurs took a 3-0 lead in the best-of-seven series. Duncan finished with 24 points.

Duncan scored six points in the Spurs’ overtime victory in Game 2.

“That’s why he is considered as great as he has been for the last 17 years,” Coach Gregg Popovich said. “He feels a responsibility to carry us in those kinds of times, and he did it again tonight.”

Memphis fans may not be able to put their “We don’t bluff” towels and T-shirts to use much longer because no team has come back from a 3-0 deficit in NBA playoff history.

Game 4 is in Memphis on Monday.

Tony Parker finished with 26 points and Manu Ginobili had 19 off the bench for the Spurs, who no longer have to worry about a repeat of the collapse they endured in last year’s conference finals, when they lost four consecutive games after holding a 2-0 lead in the series with Oklahoma City.

Mike Conley had 20 points but made only eight of 21 shots for the Grizzlies, who frittered away an early 18-point advantage built on the strength of strong defense and San Antonio’s sloppiness.

Conley had five steals in the first quarter but none over the final 41 minutes.

“We came out with great energy, we got steals, we were running,” Coach Lionel Hollins said. “We just couldn’t sustain it.”

Marc Gasol finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds and Zach Randolph had 14 points and 15 rebounds, but the Grizzlies’ big men combined to make only 12 of 32 shots.

The Spurs didn’t take their first lead until Danny Green made a three-point basket 15 seconds into the fourth quarter, triggering an extended back-and-forth stretch that ended with Conley’s errant running layup at the end of regulation.

San Antonio scored 11 of the first 14 points in overtime and it was basically over. Duncan made a 19-foot jump shot, converted a three-point play on a layup in which he was fouled and scored on a tip-in.

San Antonio endured a comically bad opening stretch, missing its first five shots and while having the ball stolen four times in the game’s first 3 minutes 15 seconds.

The Spurs were so out of sorts that Popovich pulled all five starters at once with nearly five minutes left in the first quarter.

“It looked like those five guys had been asleep since Tuesday,” Popovich said.

Getting back in the game was as simple as holding onto the ball; San Antonio had only two turnovers in the second quarter and had pulled to within 44-40 by halftime.

“We calmed down, we started to do what we do,” Ginobili said. “We started to take care of the ball better, and things started to change.”

ben.bolch@latimes.com

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