9:00 PM EST, ESPN – Line: Warriors -6.5, Over/Under: 212
After going off for 34 points in Game One, the Warriors hardly needed another outburst from Durant, who posted a calm 16 points in his team’s 136-100 victory on Tuesday.
With the Western Conference Finals shifting to San Antonio, we’re about to find out just how long this Series will last as the Spurs look to avoid falling into a three-game hole at the hands of the Golden State Warriors in Game Three from AT&T Center. So far, this Series has been marred by critical injuries to key players, absentee coaches, allegedly malicious fouls, and one very impressive comeback, as the Warriors (67-15, 1st in Western Conference) held serve from their home floor throughout Games One and Two. After sweeping their way through the previous two rounds of the Postseason, it appeared that their lengthy layoff had done them no favors, as they fell behind by twenty-five points in the Third Quarter of Game One, looking rusty and lethargic against what had been their chief competition out West throughout the campaign. And then fate delivered a crucial blow, as the Spurs’ Kawhi Leonard landed awkwardly on Zaza Puchulia’s giant foot, as the burly Center closed out on the Defensive Player of the Year’s shot. As a result, Leonard sprained his ailing ankle once more (the same one he did against Houston last week), forcing him to leave the affair prematurely, which the hosts mercilessly took advantage of, immediately putting together a 28-3 run en route to securing a miraculous 113-111 victory. With San Antonio’s defensive dynamo sitting out the following contest, Head Coach Steve Kerr, who has been sidelined for the past three weeks suffering the effects of a lingering back injury, provided quite the rallying cry, ordering his charges to go straight for the jugular, which is precisely what happened in Tuesday’s 136-100 drubbing of their shorthanded counterpart. Simply put, this was about as one-sided a contest as you’ll find in these Playoffs, as the home side jumped out to a quick 33-16 First Quarter lead, shooting a white-hot 56.2% from the field, including 18-of-37 from beyond the arc (48.6%) when it was all said and done, while assisting on a majestic thirty-nine of their fifty field goals, including a Postseason Record twenty-three in the First Half alone. Seven different players scored in double-figures, led by two-time MVP Steph Curry (25.3 PTS, 46.8% FG, 41.1% 3FG, 4.5 REB, 6.6 AST, 1.8 STL), who totaled twenty-nine points on 8-of-13 shooting (61.5%), including 6-of-9 from downtown (66.7%), seven rebounds, seven assists, and three steals. Kevin Durant (25.1 PTS, 53.7% FG, 37.5% 3FG, 8.3 REB, 4.8 AST, 1.1 STL, 1.6 BLK) added another sixteen points in a little over twenty-seven minutes of action, knocking down 6-of-10 attempts from the field (60.0%), while Klay Thompson (22.3 PTS, 46.8% FG, 41.4% 3FG, 3.7 REB, 2.1 AST, 0.8 STL) and Draymond Green (10.2 PTS, 41.8% FG, 7.9 REB, 7.0 AST, 2.0 STL, 1.4 BLK) added eleven and thirteen points respectively. Clearly, the two-time reigning Western Conference Champions weren’t playing around, for their 36-point victory was their largest since the franchise resided in Philadelphia way back in 1948. It should be interesting to see if these guys continue to exhibit their killer instinct now that they’re going on the road, where it’s quite common for the Reserves, who played so damn well throughout the first two contests, to fall into the background. Golden State’s Bench scored a whopping sixty-three points in Game Two, with Patrick McCaw (eighteen points), Shaun Livingston (ten points), and Ian Clark (ten points) outscoring their opponent’s Starting Five 48-47. Though Leonard’s injured ankle has dominated the conversation, the fact that the Warriors are far from healthy themselves has gotten lost in translation; versatile Swingman Andre Iguodala (7.6 PTS, 52.8% FG, 4.0 REB, 3.4 AST, 1.0 STL) sat out Game Two with soreness in his Left Knee after being relegated to a scant ten minutes of play in the previous game, while the aforementioned Pachulia left Tuesday’s trouncing with a bruised Right Heel. Granted, these two guys hardly amount to the impact of Leonard’s absence, but if the All-Star does return to the floor, it would go a long way towards leveling the playing field. Quite an astute observation, we know…
After once again spraining his ankle in Game One, Leonard was sidelined on Tuesday, with the hopes that he’ll be active in Game Three, as the Spurs look to avoid an 0-3 hole.
Meanwhile, if you are a Spurs fan (61-21, 2nd in Western Conference), you have to be absolutely sick to your stomach that it’s all come to this. First, San Antonio lost Tony Parker (10.1 PTS, 46.6% FG, 1.8 REB, 4.5 AST, 0.5 STL) for the Postseason, as the veteran Point Guard ruptured a tendon in his Left Quadriceps early on in the Western Conference Semifinals against the Rockets. Compounding matters, the aforementioned Kawhi Leonard (25.5 PTS, 48.5% FG, 38.1% 3FG, 5.8 REB, 3.5 AST, 1.8 STL, 0.7 BLK) sprained his Left Ankle later in that same Series, causing him to miss the clinching Game Six against Houston. While Gregg Popovich managed to coax an otherworldly performance out of his charges in order to finally silence James Harden and Co., the abrupt turnaround to face the Warriors (who had nearly a week’s worth of rest) did them no favors whatsoever. Then again, this can be a very cruel game, folks. As we covered earlier, the Spurs carried their momentum into ORACLE Arena in Game One, amassing a twenty-point lead at Halftime, before leading by as many as twenty-five in the third frame against the West’s No. One Seed. At this point, it was the peak of happiness for their Fan Base; on just one day’s rest and without their vested Floor General in the lineup, they stormed into their chief rival’s arena and outright embarrassed them for the larger part of thirty minutes of play. While these guys are far from David, they appeared on their way towards slaying Goliath. And then it happened…. the two words that will haunt fans in Southern Texas for years to come: Zaza Pachulia. In a move that Popovich characterized as unsportsmanlike and dangerous (even going so far as comparing it to manslaughter), the Big Man closed out on Leonard’s three-pointer, as the former Finals MVP came down helplessly on that same ankle that kept him out of the Finale against Houston. We won’t rehash what happened after that, for it’s rather obvious what this team is missing without him in their lineup; San Antonio lacked any kind of teeth on either end of the court in Game Two, shooting a miserable 37.0% from the field, including 8-of-23 from downtown (34.8%), as Golden State actually dished out more assists (thirty-nine) than the visiting side had field goals (thirty-seven). Though their depth has proven to be quite an asset in the past, this was clearly a case in which forcing the Supporting Cast into more prominent roles did not work out as planned. Then again, if we had told you that Jonathan Simmons (twenty-two points) would outscore the likes of LaMarcus Aldridge (eight points), Pau Gasol (seven points), who together have a combined eleven All-Star appearances and eight All-NBA Selections, all by himself in a Playoff Game, you may have called us crazy. It must be terribly disappointing to get such a toothless effort from players that were expected to perform at a high level in the Playoffs, particularly in the case of Aldridge (17.3 PTS, 47.7% FG, 7.3 REB, 1.9 AST 1.2 BLK), who was acquired via a lucrative deal last year in Free Agency, charged with the expectations of carrying the franchise’s tradition of success forward after the retirement of Tim Duncan. At 6-11, the veteran big man should be able of the smaller Warriors’ Frontcourt, but that just hasn’t been the case as he has gone through large spells without making much of an impact at all. In Tuesday’s debacle, he was a dismal 4-of-11 from the field, while failing to attempt a single free-throw, with nearly as many turnovers (three) as rebounds (four). Given the team’s collective effort in Game Two, it’s not ridiculous to think that Popovich looked at the situation as an acceptable loss, gambling that if he kept Leonard from playing, that the MVP candidate would be healthy for Game Three, where his charges could then attempt to stem the tide and stop the bleeding, as opposed to further compounding matters Tuesday Night. This guy has proven shrewder than most in his profession, but time will tell if this tactic will bear fruit or simply hasten his team’s exit.