The Spurs finished 6-4 over their last 10 games of the regular season, including three consecutive losses from April 7-10 (two came against the defending champion Golden State Warriors), and for the most part appeared to be out of synch; on offense, especially. Now that the postseason finally has arrived, they have no intention of easing up. Meanwhile, the Spurs start Tony Parker, have a solid backup in Patty Mills and even more depth at point guard with Andre Miller.
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“This team understands we have a big goal. But we’re going to sure try, battle like we did the last few weeks and see what happens”.
Oklahoma City (55-27) earned the No. 3 seed and will play the No. 6 seed Mavericks (42-40) for the first time since the 2011-12 season. The Spurs are the Spurs and just ended the regular season with the best record in franchise history.
Battered by injuries, the Grizzlies held the No. 5 spot until losing nine of their final 10. Behind some Lance Stephenson magic in the second quarter, the Grizzlies pulled to within two with three minutes left in the first half, but the Spurs sprinted away at the end of the quarter to lead 48-37 at the half. But somehow, the Grizzlies are in the playoffs to face the Spurs. And despite the rotating cast of warm bodies, Memphis can still manage to give their opponents hell.
“Everybody is beatable”, Carter said Saturday.
All the career nights for the young players made it seem a little different for San Antonio, but veteran Boris Diaw said otherwise. The Spurs won all four games in the regular season and leads the all-time series 63-20.
To date, the Spurs have dominated the season series taking victory in all three of the previous games.
“If we do what they say, we’ve got what?”
Before getting to the Thunder, forward Dirk Nowitzki said the back-to-back road games the Mavs played Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers and Monday against the Utah Jazz took some of the steam out of them and impacted what they were unable to do against the Spurs. The Thunder’s Dion Waiters had a running dunk and a ringing 3-pointer in the final 1:22 of regulation to tie the game.
The dates, times and TV information for the Spurs-Grizzlies series has yet to be determined, though Game 1 will be in San Antonio this weekend, either Saturday or Sunday. “It’s not easy to lose one game the whole season (at home)”.
The reigning NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Leonard scored the Spurs’ first five points when he stripped Memphis forward Matt Barnes and raced the other way for a breakaway dunk and then drained a 3-pointer the next time he touched the ball. Before talking to reporters, he hit a 25-footer. Playing alongside former UCLA teammate Ryan Hollins (later waived by Memphis), Farmar scored a season-high 15 points in 31 minutes against the Chicago Bulls on April 5.
An 11th-year player, he was traded to the Celtics in the offseason after winning the National Basketball Association title with Golden State last season. Boban was able to get his post scoring going early and block some shots, while Simmons provided some athletic drives and finishes at the rim.
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If there was ever a season when the Grizzlies showed the true meaning of their old “Grindhouse” mentality, this has been it. You would nearly run out of fingers and toes trying to count up the significant injuries to key players that have repeatedly stricken Memphis.
