Ginobili lifts the Spurs to a 3-1 series lead

SALT LAKE CITY —  With each drive to the basket and each fall to the court -- flop or not -- Manu Ginobili made the Utah Jazz and their fans angrier and angrier.

Players and coaches complained to the referees. Fans booed, threw things and popped balloons.

All Ginobili did was keep making his free throws, pushing the San Antonio Spurs to a 91-79 victory Monday night and a 3-1 lead in the Western Conference finals.

Ginobili scored 22 points, 15 coming in the fourth quarter and 11 of those coming from the foul line. San Antonio was 19 for 25 on free throws in the final period, with four of the attempts courtesy of technical fouls.

“I’m very proud of what we did in the fourth quarter because it was looking ugly for us,” Ginobili said. “We stepped up and did a really good job.”

Some of the calls that went Ginobili’s way were questionable, but the key was that he forced the action after not doing “too much to get under their skin the first three quarters.”

The Jazz wasn’t about to let him get to the rim easily, and its players wound up losing their temper as the fouls mounted.

Utah drew four technical fouls down the stretch, leading to the ejection of Coach Jerry Sloan and usually mild-mannered Derek Fisher. Jazz fans -- seeing their team lose at home for the first time in eight games this postseason -- showed their disgust by hurling things toward the court, appearing to hit San Antonio’s Bruce Bowen with something small.

“They threw Carmex [lip balm] at me,” Bowen said. “I like Carmex, but not getting it thrown at me.”

Of all the blows landed in this game, the most severe was to Utah’s comeback hopes. The Jazz will have to win Game 5 in San Antonio on Wednesday night just to bring the series back to Salt Lake City. Utah has lost 18 straight games in San Antonio dating to 1999.

“I’m sure a lot of people are counting us out in the series,” said Jazz forward Carlos Boozer, who had 18 points and nine rebounds. “We have a much better feel for this team after playing them four times. All we can do is toughen up.”