Basketball On The Internet.

IF you told anyone tonight that San Antonio won Game 1 of the Western Conference semi final with Golden State, they would hardly bat an eyelid.

After all, that was what was supposed to happen.

The question is though, how will the Warriors react to that epic 129-127 double-overtime loss in San Antonio after evergreen Argentinian genius Manu Ginobili sank the match-winning three-pointer, naked on the left wing with 1.2 seconds left?

Will Mark Jackson's young GSW team crumble, knowing they let the big fish off the hook after having it in its death throes? Or will they be infuriated they let this slip and come out even more focused for Game 2?

Clearly, Jackson thinks it will be the latter.

"It was a great game for us, a hard-fought game,'' he said. "We're a young basketball team that will be better at the end of the day. I saw a lot of good things.''

A wide open Ginobili probably wasn't one of them which is why it is easier to assume the former will prevail.

After all, the Warriors have lost 30 consecutive games in San Antonio, were up by 16 with 4:31 left in regulation, before bungling a sure victory.

Then they squandered winning chances in both overtimes with poor execution and all of this while Spurs' superstar Tim Duncan, battling stomach flu, sat for the final 14-plus minutes.

Golden State's mesmerising point guard Stephen Curry dominated with 44 points, 11 assists in 58 minutes and the Warriors won the boards by double digits, our own Andrew Bogut grabbing 15 rebounds.

San Antonio was kept to 43.8 percent shooting.

But it was Golden State scoring just 14 in the final period to let the Spurs back in.

Referring to the 30 straight losses in San Antonio that date back to 1997, Jackson said that wasn't his team's history.

"We had a heartbreaker Game 1 of last series (too),'' Curry said, referring to the last-second layup by Denver guard Andre Miller in the first round.

"So we've been here before. Obviously, you don't want to experience that again. But we know how to come back. We've been a resilient team all year. We know how to turn it back on.''

Game 2 will certainly reveal what both clubs are made of, Curry again making the third quarter his own personal playground with 22 points on 9-of-12 shooting, plus three assists.

But in the bitter end, it was Ginobili who had the time and space to make a statement and, with his second chance to score the winner, he made no mistake.

As Spurs coach Gregg Popovich mused, at one stage in the game he wanted to trade Ginobili.

"Now I want to cook him breakfast," he said.