NBA Playoffs: San Antonio Spurs vs. Golden State Recap
By Phil Watson
The San Antonio Spurs finally ground down the injury-riddled Golden State Warriors, closing out their Western Conference semifinal series on Thursday, May 16, with a 94-82 win in Game 6.
Tim Duncan scored 19 points for the Spurs and Kawhi Leonard had a double-double in the clincher with 16 points and 10 rebounds as San Antonio held the Warriors to just 39 percent shooting.
Golden State got 22 points from Stephen Curry, who was 10-for-25 from the floor, and Jarrett Jack scored 15 points. But rookie Harrison Barnes, who averaged 17.3 points per game in the series, missed the fourth quarter with headaches after hitting his head on the floor in the second quarter. Barnes got stitches, came back in the third quarter and had just nine points before leaving for good.
The Warriors didn’t get much from David Lee in the series. The All-Star, who injured his hip in the opening game against the Denver Nuggets in the first round, played just 35 minutes in the series and had 20 points with 13 rebounds.
The healthier, deeper Spurs wore down Golden State over the course of the series, pulling away with an 18-point win at home in Game 5 and closing it out with another double-digit win in Game 6.
For Golden State, it was a disappointing end to a great turnaround season and they showed their gratitude to the Oracle Arena faithful when the series was over.
Game Scores (San Antonio wins series 4-2)
Game 1 at San Antonio: San Antonio 129, Golden State 127, 2 OT
Game 2 at San Antonio: Golden State 100, San Antonio 91
Game 3 at Oakland: San Antonio 102, Golden State 92
Game 4 at Oakland: Golden State 97, San Antonio 87, OT
Game 5 at San Antonio: San Antonio 109, Golden State 91
Game 6 at Oakland: San Antonio 94, Golden State 82
Series MVP
Tim Duncan, San Antonio Spurs
Tim Duncan leads the San Antonio Spurs to the conference finals for the eighth time in his career. (NBA.com photo)
Tony Parker may have led the San Antonio Spurs in scoring in the series, but it was Duncan who helped deliver the win, averaging 19.5 points and 10.3 rebounds while blocking eight shots in the six games. Duncan was just 44-for-104 from the floor (42.3 percent), but the Big Fundamental—who has struggled at times at the foul line in his career—canned 85.3 percent of his free throws (29-for-34) and played his usual big role at the defensive end as the Spurs were able to take Curry and Klay Thompson out of their comfort zone as the series wore on.
And never let it be said that Duncan won’t protect his turf, either.
Biggest Surprise
Kawhi Leonard, San Antonio Spurs
Kawhi Leonard elevated his game for the San Antonio Spurs in the conference semifinals. (NBA.com photo)
Leonard, the second-year forward from San Diego State, continues to improve, but he took his game to a new level against the Warriors. Leonard averaged 14.7 points and 9.2 rebounds in the series, up from his regular-season averages of 11.9 and six, respectively, and he shot a sizzling 55.7 percent in the process (34-for-61).
Leonard was also a threat from deep, hitting 6-of-16 from 3-point range (37.5 percent) and he averaged 1.5 steals on the defensive end.
Leonard had two double-doubles in the series. Besides the 16 and 10 he posted in Game 6, Leonard also had 11 points and 12 rebounds in the Game 2 loss for the San Antonio Spurs. He scored in double figures in all six games and made the Warrior defense account for him, which is a big contribution against a team that is already having to figure out how to contain Duncan, Parker and Manu Ginobili.
Of course, when you follow your own miss like this, it gets easier to put up those impressive numbers.
Biggest Disappointment
Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors
Draymond Green was a non-factor against the San Antonio Spurs. (NBA.com photo)
The rookie from Michigan State isn’t expected to produce huge numbers for the Warriors. But at the same time, Golden State could have really benefited from Green not being a complete liability at the offensive end.
Green didn’t have a great regular season, averaging 2.9 points and 3.3 rebounds in 13.4 minutes a game. But he shot just 32.7 percent on the year—a pretty woeful number for a guy who takes the majority of his shots from inside of five feet.
After a solid series against the Nuggets, Green couldn’t hit water from a boat against San Antonio—just 8-for-29 from the floor (27.6 percent). He was just 3-for-11 from inside of nine feet and didn’t get much better as he moved further back. Green was just 2-for-7 from mid-range and 3-for-11 from deep.
Yes, Green is a rookie. Yes, he’s just an end of the rotation guy. But still, the Warriors needed more than they got from the kid.
He’s already looking ahead to 2013-14, though, after the Warriors were eliminated.
What’s Next
Memphis Grizzlies
(Image courtesy sportslogos.net)
The San Antonio Spurs draw their divisional rivals from Memphis in the Western Conference Finals. The last time these teams met in the postseason was in 2011, when the eighth-seeded Grizzlies shocked top-seeded San Antonio in the first round.
The teams split four regular-season meetings, but there’s not a lot to take away from those games.
For starters, Rudy Gay was still with the Grizzlies for the first three of them and in the one game the teams played after Gay was dealt to the Toronto Raptors on Jan. 30, Duncan, Ginobili and Leonard didn’t play.
Duncan averaged 19.7 points per game in the three games he did play against Memphis, while the Grizzlies big men—Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph—averaged less than 15 points per game against the Spurs.
Duncan told Yahoo Sports that he expects the conference finals to be less than a demonstration of beautiful basketball.
“It’s not going to be pretty,” Duncan said. “Sorry. It’s just not going to be. It’s going to be two teams trying to impose wills on each other. Two very well-coached, good executing, tough-minded, defensive teams. And that’s just how the series is going to go.”