San Antonio Spurs small forward Kawhi Leonard (2) dunks the ball as Oklahoma City Thunder center Steven Adams (12) defends in game one of the second round of the NBA Playoffs at AT&T Center.
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The Spurs were in irresistible form in game one of their seven-match series and cantered to a 124-92 success, with LaMarcus Alridge leading the way. Leonard posted 25 points, five rebounds and five assists in 22 minutes for San Antonio. “It was enough for me”.
The Spurs kept pouring it on in the early part of the second quarter with Green, who has struggled with his shot nearly all season, pouring in two 3-pointers and hitting a free throw to expand San Antonio’s advantage to 53-24 at the 9:14 mark.
“We didn’t have that sense of urgency tonight coming out of the gate for whatever reason”, Oklahoma City guard Andre Roberson said. OKC will need more from those two and they should be motivated to have a big game after being blown out on Saturday. “Their team, their system, their continuity and how they move allows him to get free a lot of times and utilizes his game”.
OKC looks to bounce back from an embarrassing Game 1 loss.
The Spurs scored the most postseason points against the Thunder.
The Spurs are now 8-0 in Game 1s after a sweep in the previous series under Gregg Popovich.
Serge Ibaka led the way for Oklahoma City with 19 points, with Kevin Durant adding 16 points, eight rebounds and six assists and Russell Westbrook, who missed his opening five shots, chipping in with 14 points and nine assists for the Thunder, who made just 6 of their 23 attempts from 3-pointers. Normally it’s Durant and Westbrook who strike terror into the hearts of their opponents. “And, again, I don’t think this was a situation where they made all these drastic, hard shots against us, and we were playing against this great defense on every single possession”. Unfortunately for the Thunder, the rest of the Spurs were just as impressive early.
The Spurs were clinically efficient with their offense, moving the ball like it was ticking and getting assists on 39 of their 51 field goals.
Chris Webber sounded disgusted while watching the Thunder’s defense, stating at one point that it was the worst pick-and-roll defense he had ever seen.
San Antonio was hitting 69 percent on their mid-range jumpers through three quarters. To me you find the challenge in helping players grow, and helping a team become a team, and play the right way, and trust each other, and you bring in your own staff that can help get that message across.
We did, however, received two Friendly Bounces on Saturday night. “We have to be more prepared for it”.
Durant was not in the mood to discuss his feelings following Saturday’s blowout loss.
When asked about what the players said in the locker room after the game, Durant snapped “I’m not tellin’ you” to a reporter.
“He’s grown so much”, Durant said. No insane emotions. It’s not like we were upset and screaming at each other in the locker room after the game.
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Things only went downhill from there for Oklahoma City, which was outscored 43-20 in the first quarter, thus making the final 36 minutes an academic exercise. “We’ve had some battles”, Durant said.
