The Thunder are making their fourth conference finals appearance in six seasons.
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The San Antonio Spurs’ second-round exit from the playoffs has come with follow-up speculation about the futures of Tim Duncan and Manu Ginobli.
Curry returned to practice Friday in preparation for Game 1 of the much-anticipated series at Oracle Arena, which comes three weeks after he suffered a sprained right knee.
Westbrook said the Thunder never lost confidence. His and Enes Kanter’s late-game work together stifled the Spurs. We were mixing different lineups, so that helped out as well. They were one of the deepest teams in the league.
This is the first year, where the dynamics of the Spur’s team changed. “We just have to show up and make sure we don’t take anything for granted and stick to what we do”. In 14 seasons in my case, it happened a lot of times. Still, it may not be enough to knock out the defending champions, the 73-9 Golden State Warriors. “It will be a great challenge”.
The Spurs were trying to extend the winningest season in franchise history after going 67-15. San Antonio shot 31.1 percent from the field before the break and missed all nine of its three-pointers. Of course, it’s disappointing when you don’t end up winning the last game.
“I’ll get to that after I get out of here and figure life out”, Duncan said following the loss.
Kawhi Leonard’s 22 points led the Spurs. The Warriors swept the regular-season series 3-0. “And if they have both those guys going like they did last night, it’s especially tough”. Stephen Curry has abused Russell Westbrook like no other point guard has.
The Thunder looked like the Spurs often do in the first half, running an efficient offense and shooting 46.5 percent from the field while committing just three turnovers before the break.
“We just came out with great intensity”, said Westbrook, who had two back-to-back strong performances against the Spurs. We have to go all the way to the New Jersey Athletic Conference and the final day of the regular season for tiny Kean College from Union and Hillside, New Jersey.
Draymond Green anchors the Warriors defense and has proven to be, if not the best, one of the best defensive players in the National Basketball Association.
It’s highly expected that Duncan will retire but he says he’ll take his time to decide. “We are confident in ourselves”. “He was much better than we could have ever hoped or expected given the length of time that he was out”, Kerr said. It’s not always about winning a game or winning a championship. Oklahoma City outrebounded San Antonio 50-40 on Thursday.
“We knew what we had to do to win the series”, Westbrook said. Leonard finished second in this year’s MVP voting, averaging a career-high 21.2 points per game.
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Have we seen Tim Duncan’s final game?
