Fortunately for me, the much awaited (the past three years to be specific) Warriors – Spurs Playoffs matchup is finally here and from the outset, it looks to be a hyper-competitive series. Unfortunately for me, someone over at the NBA scheduling team decided it’d be a good idea for the match to be broadcast at 1 in the morning.
Which meant I was awake till 4 in the morning heading into a Monday to give you this coverage, woo-friggin-hoo. The match was worth it though, a real nail-biter going into the last minute to be decided with a score of 113-111, favour Golden State Warriors.
Trending
A rough sketch
The Spurs came out of the gates in a manner reminiscent of the first game of the ’16 - ‘17 NBA regular season when they absolutely hammered the Warriors, beating them by 27 points. It looked like we’d see a repeat of the same in this game, as the Spurs beat Golden State both offensively as well as defensively, jumping out to a 14-point lead in the first quarter, allowing the Warriors offence to produce a measly 16 points.
LaMarcus Aldridge looked like the version of himself from three years back, leading the Spurs offence, taking advantage of the matchups given to him by posting up the lankier Kevin Durant and the smaller Draymond Green. The Warriors vaguely reassembled themselves in the second quarter, but still trailed by 20 points going into the half. All was lost it seemed, till the Warriors came back and came back big.
Led by Steph Curry and Kevin Durant offensively, the Warriors put up 39 points in the third, just three points less than the total of what they managed to score in the entire first half while stifling the Spurs on the defensive end. They ran with this hot hand all the way into the fourth quarter where they outscored the Spurs by 11 points and won the game.
Some of the takeaways from the game that are likely to affect the series are as listed.
#1 Kawhi Leonard’s ankles might decide the series
Kawhi Leonard, who sat out Game 6 against the Houston Rockets in the last series after he sprained his ankle coming down on James Harden, went down twice in the game in the span of 36 minutes, the second time for good, both times on the same ankle while taking the same kind of shot.
The first incident, came three minutes into the third quarter after he made a three and then tried to run back up the court to get back on defence. He sat out briefly while having it seen by the training staff on the sidelines, only to check back in and this time, take a more permanent hit, after coming down hard on a three-point attempt, courtesy of Zaza Pachulia’s close out.
Leonard, who led the charge offensively and defensively till that point of time was taken off the floor for the rest of the game. A coincidental (?) burst from Stephen Curry at this point, saw the Warriors go on a 19-0 run as they cut a 23-point deficit to single digits. This put the Spurs off balance as the Warriors won what seemed to be until the third quarter, an already decided game.
Three injuries in the span of two games isn’t a welcome sight for Kawhi or San Antonio, who will have an MRI on his ankle, has his next game two days away from now. While Pop is most likely to bench him until they go back to their home turf, the Spurs cannot hope to win the series without their leader on the floor. The Warriors, who have been criticised for playing weak and injured teams in the playoffs are bound to have their various accomplishments in the regular season overshadowed for taking out yet another injured team.
#2 Steve Kerr influential even if not on full duty
Steve Kerr’s back problems have been well documented in the NBA by players, fellow coaches and commentators alike since they started affecting him last year. Coming off their 2015 Championship season, Kerr had two surgeries to alleviate his pre-existing back pains and underwent a surgical procedure for the same. The surgery, however, came with terrifying side effects with symptoms like headaches, migraines, nausea and chronic neck ache.
The same issues kept him out for the first 43 games of the previous season, during the Warriors historic 73-win season run and after Game 3 against the Trailblazers in the first round, they came around again.
Kerr would not attend the entirety of the Second Round, rather leaving the coaching duties to his assistant coach Mike Brown. Desperate for an end to his head and neck pain that has plagued him, Kerr underwent a spinal-cord-leak procedure on May 5th at Duke University. It seems to have worked, as he participated in coaches’ meetings over the past few days, coached the floor during a routine practice and while he was present at Oracle Arena for the last game, he didn’t coach but rather stood in the stands looking at his team.
The X-Factor for the Spurs, as I’ve written in this piece, aren’t any of the players on the roster, but Coach Gregg Popovich. Coach Pop is a basketball genius and if there’s anyone who can overcome this mad genius, it’s his protégé, Steve Kerr. It isn’t just drawing up plays or coaching that makes Kerr great, it’s what he does besides all that, as he showed during halftime against the Spurs when he gave the Warriors locker room a rousing speech to send them into the third quarter.
Clearly, it worked, as Golden State looked much stronger, focused and aware on both ends of the court powering through to victory. Coach Kerr is doubtful for Game 2, but if his recent progress is any sign, he should be back to his coaching duties sooner rather than later.
#3 Steph Curry can just take over games like no one else
Throughout the match, I was texting my Warrior fan friend (Let’s call him PK), who till the end of the first half was irate about how badly Golden State was getting theirs kicked. Right at the point when Steph got hot though, he sent me this, “THAT’S WHAT IM FRIGGIN TALKING ABOUT. THAT’S WHAT IM FRIGGIN TALKING ABOUT.” (he didn’t say friggin, but you get the point.)
Steph put up an MVP reminiscent performance, 40 points with 7 rebounds and 3 steals, hitting 7 3-pointers in total, 5 of which came in the third quarter. Kevin Durant put up a just-as-impressive performance tallying 34 points along with 4 assists and 4 blocks, but it was Curry tonight.
Coming into the first half, it seemed like Steph would have a mediocre night, no doubt by the lockdown defence played by the Spurs as he put up just 14 points in the first half. As teams in the NBA have discovered though, all it takes is one play for the Warriors and their home turf of Oracle Arena to erupt. And that was Stephen Curry’s performance in the third quarter as he went off for 19 points in the third - leading Golden State to a 1-0 lead in the series.
#4 A game to forget for Klay “Harry Houdini” Thompson
While his fellow Splash Brother had a night to remember, this was largely a night to forget for Klay, as he put up a Draymond-Green-on-a-bad-day-esque 6 point/4 assist/3 rebound/3 steal/2 block game numbers. Even Zaza Pachulia, who’s probably the most hated player on the Warriors squad right now, had a unanimously better game with plus-minus of +11 and even outscored Klay for the second time in three games.
While he’s been great on the defensive end for the Warriors, that’s not the only thing you expect from a player on a max contract. Klay shot a miserable 2-11 from the field making just one shot from deep on three attempts, with two turnovers to go with it. And this isn’t a Western Conference Final thing, it’s a Playoff thing for Klay.
Over the course of the past nine games, Klay has put up an average of 15/2/2 on 39% shooting from the field, well below his regular season numbers as he’d disappeared from both the games as well as the highlight reels.
Where is the man who put up 60 points in 29 minutes, The man who set an NBA record with 37 points in a quarter, the man who made 11 3’s and 41 points against the Thunder last year, the man who openly proclaimed when Durant entered the team that he “isn’t giving up sh*t”?
While this may work against an offensively ill-equipped team like the Spurs, Klay needs to be his old self when they face the Cavaliers to have a chance at winning.
#5 Spurs flex their bench muscles
On a night when Pau Gasol got into early foul trouble and Patty Mills struggled to find his shot, who did Spurs Head Coach Gregg call? The Warrior-Busters.
I’ve talked about the Spurs second unit on multiple occasions and on the biggest stage of them all, boy did they show up. Jonathan Simmons and Manu Ginobili ended up playing more minutes (25 each) than two of the Spurs starters, Kawhi Leonard (23) and Pau Gasol (16), putting up a combined 29 points on an 11-19 shooting clip making some much-needed buckets down the stretch for the Spurs.
Young guards Dejounte Murray and Kyle Anderson also put some work in, playing key minutes to substitute Tony Parker who went down with a season-ending injury in the last series against the Rockets. They destroyed the Warriors second unit, who in total, put up just 13 points. As the Spurs enter the seemingly twilight era of their championship winning days, irrespective of the outcome of this series, it must make Coach Pop relieved to know that he has some young players to lead the way for the next few years.
