San Antonio Spurs' Manu Ginobili of Argentina (bottom) and Utah Jazz's Carlos Boozer fight for a rebound during Game Four of their NBA Western Conference Final play-off series in Salt Lake City on Monday night. The Spurs won 91-79 to take a 3-1 lead in the series. - Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters):

THE SAN Antonio Spurs moved to within one victory of the NBA finals with a 91-79 road victory over the Utah Jazz on Monday night, pulling away from the hosts with an aggressive fourth-quarter run.

Manu Ginobili took centre stage for the Spurs by scoring 16 of his 22 points in the final period, 11 from free throws, to give San Antonio a 3-1 lead in the best-of-seven Western Conference finals series.

"I just tried to do the same thing ... play as tough as them," Ginobili said after continuously driving the lane against the Jazz and drawing fouls late inthe game.

Win streak ended

Tim Duncan had 19 points, nine rebounds and five blocked shots as San Antonio ended a seven-game post-season homecourt win streak by Utah.

He was 5-of-8 from the line in the period as the Spurs turned a one-point lead into a double-digit victory by making 19 of 25 free throws.

Game Five is in San Antonio tonight on a court where the Jazz have lost 18 consecutive games.

Deron Williams led Utah with 27 points and 10 assists despite a weekend bout with a stomach virus.

"Things didn't go our way, but you got to give it up to them (the Spurs)," Williams said.

"They made plays down the stretch. Like I said, they kept their cool. We didn't. We lost our composure a little bit."

Utah coach Jerry Sloan and guard Derek Fisher were ejected after receiving two technical fouls.

"We just couldn't keep them off the free-throw line," Sloan said, without commenting on the officiating.

Outscored

Utah had pulled within 65-64 of San Antonio on Matt Harpring's jumper with 10:54 to go, but Ginobili outscored the Jazz 5-2 in the next minute to put the Spurs in control at 70-66.

Tony Parker added 17 points for the Spurs with Fabricio Oberto contributing 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Carlos Boozer was the only other Jazz player in double figures, with 18 points.