AT&T CENTER—The NBA Playoffs are a stage unlike any other in sports. In the shortened confines of a best-of-seven series, every moment of every game is magnified, yet measured.

A hot hand, shooting slump, or quirky matchup—things that can be written off as statistical outliers over the course of an 82-game season—can prove devastating in a race to just four victories. But as each playoff series extends into their fifth, sixth, or seventh games, and one series bleeds into another, these anomalies have a way of balancing out over time, allowing for the best combination of talent and process to advance.

AT&T Center – On Monday, I tweeted this.

#Spurs' 3-point shooters across the board are struggling shooting the basketball. Manu-Green-Kawhi-Neal are a combined 42-of-126 from three.

— Paul Garcia PS (@24writer) May 14, 2013

As the San Antonio Spurs’ key shooters struggle to find their rhythm against the Golden State Warriors four games into their series (2-2), missed shots have become a team-wide issue for the Spurs.

The matchup of the Game for Game 5 will be between Manu Ginobili and Jarrett Jack.

San Antonio Spurs guard Manu Ginobili had a breakout game for the series in Game 4 with 21 points (8-18 FG) and 50% shooting (5-10) from beyond the arc, but the team still fell to the Golden State Warriors. While Ginobili had a great game, the majority of his points came in the first half with 0 points in overtime. The Spurs will need him to have a balanced game, scoring throughout the game, and making his jumpers to make the defense stop collapsing in the paint. Jarrett Jack also had a great shooting night with 24 points (9-16 FG) for the Warriors off the bench and will look to have a repeat performance as the team's sixth man.

What Ginobili must do on offense:

The San Antonio Spurs (6-2) return to the Alamo City to host the Golden State Warriors (6-4) in Game 5 of their Western Conference Semifinals series which has now become a best of three.

The Warriors are coming off a 97-87 Game 4 overtime win over the Spurs in Oakland to tie up the series. The Spurs were led by Manu Ginobili’s 21 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists off the bench. The Warriors were led by Harrison Barnes, who scored a playoff-high 26 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Stephen Curry will play despite having an injured left ankle in the past two games.

Though the Spurs did lose Game 4, they did split their road trip to Oakland thus regaining home court advantage over the Warriors.

And as the Spurs look to retake the lead in their series against Golden State, here are five things to watch for in tonight's contest:

• The Spurs are 7-3 in Game 5 in a best-of-seven series under coach Popovich but have lost the last two, including a year ago to Oklahoma City in the Western Conference finals.

The San Antonio Spurs had a few big plays in Game 4 against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday afternoon. From a Danny Green put-back dunk to a ridiculous Tony Parker And 1 shot, the Spurs didn't have the usual "boring label" that's usually given to them.

The silver and black didn't come out with a win which would've been preferred by the fanbase, but it still made for some interesting TV.

You can check out the video of the NBA's Top 5 plays of Sunday below.

The sky is not falling -- last time I checked. The Earth is spinning on its axis and the Bobcats are still bound to their couches during the postseason. Everything is still OK.

San Antonio Spurs' Tony Parker recently joked about having a "copyright" on the teardrop, his signature move for years. As we've seen during the playoffs, other point guards have used the move effectively.

The NBA's YouTube page put a video up of the different point guards that have used it this postseason.

Who you think uses it the most effectively? Check out the video below.

This summer, Tiago Splitter becomes a restricted free agent. I know quite a few San Antonio Spurs fans who would have told you last year that they were looking forward to the day when Splitter could leave the Spurs for another team.

However, after improving on all of his numbers this year, almost as if he were auditioning for free agency, Splitter has become a lot more valuable to the team. Those that wanted Splitter gone might now be changing their tune.

Tiago made $3.9 million this year, but after working his way into the starting rotation and putting in some quality minutes, you can bet he’s due for a pay raise. The market will dictate his price, but everyone knows that big men can get a lot more because quality post players have become rather scarce these days.

So who has their sights set on landing the Brazilian big man?

Editor's Note: Gábor Zsivera, who is the chief editor over at Hungarian basketball site starting5.hu, and follows Spurs draftee Adam Hanga very closely, has agreed to contribute reports on Hanga every other week for Project Spurs. While we try to follow the international players the San Antonio Spurs have rights to frequently, we thought this was another great option for our readers to get regular updates from someone who is closer to all the action and covers it regulalry.

Adam Hanga has stepped up lately in the number one domestic basketball league of Europe as he was selected to the All-Star Five of the month of April in the Spanish ACB League by solobasket.com.

The Spurs draftee (2011, 59th overall) posted 18 points per game in that period, which was the second best performance in the the league. The Hungarian guard finished 2nd in the MVP rankings in April and he was named the best shooting guard of the month as well.

Right after his MVP of the week performance, he scored 12 points, grabbed seven rebounds, handed out three assists, had two steals and one block against CAI Zaragoza, but he couldn't help his team, Basquet Manresa to win on the road (89-62).

After looking like a superhero in Game 1 against the San Antonio Spurs, scoring 44 points and hitting six three-pointers, Stephen Curry has come back to earth a little bit. He’s still averaging a little over 20 points a game in the last three, but the Spurs have clearly found a way to slow him down a little bit.

Part of that success can be attributed to the defense of Danny Green. Curry’s numbers when Green has been guarding him are way below his average. Green has accepted his new role as Steph Curry’s shadow and is excited for the opportunity to continue.