But if the Spurs were looking to make a statement, consider it a mission accomplished.
Advertisement
LaMarcus Aldridge had 38 points, and the San Antonio Spurs dismantled the visiting Oklahoma City Thunder 124-92 on Saturday night, never trailing in Game 1 of the second-round series.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will be in San Antonio on Monday.
They took a defensive ax to Oklahoma City’s game plan, then used the swift, clean strokes of an offensive scalpel to slice apart what was supposed to be worthy challenger at the other end.
Aldridge fired from everywhere and from every angle to make 18 of 23 shots for 38 points. The player who deserves the most credit for unlocking the Spurs pass-happy offense was Danny Green, who scored 18 points and drilled five 3-pointers. “The ball went in the basket a lot – not trying to be flip, but that’s what happened”. Kevin Durant added 16 and Russell Westbrook added 14, who both struggled all night long.
Between Green and Leonard, the Spurs have the defensive weapons capable of making things as hard for Westbrook and Durant as any team in the league.
“I can’t assess the whole deal – it just ended”, Popovich said. Once the pain subsided, Oklahoma City quickly embraced the just-one-game motto as a defense mechanism, which is proper. And after Green made six of 13 3-pointers in a four-game sweep of Memphis in the first round of the playoffs, Green exploded in Game 1 against the Thunder, making five of six 3-pointers.
“I just went with it; those guys are pretty good in terms of what I’m doing or what I think we need to do in that situation”, he said.
For their part, the Spurs are heading into Game 2 guarding against complacency and expecting to get the Thunder’s best shot.
The memes describing how badly the San Antonio Spurs were whoppin’ the Oklahoma City Thunder were coming out before the game was over. San Antonio scored 43 points in the first quarter, setting a playoff record for most points in a period, and cruised.
Teams more often than not win or lose at the hands of their superstars, and game 1 was no exception to this rule.
Thunder at Spurs, San Antonio leads 1-0. We just got stretched out too much. No insane emotions. It’s not like we’re upset, screaming at each other in the locker room after the game. “I think if you can put things in front of players that they can tangibly hold on to and know what they’ve got to get better at, I think that sometimes helps them move on to the next phase”.
At halftime they were up 73-40, the sixth largest lead at the main break in playoff history. Parker racked up eight assists in the first 24 minutes of play.
Aldridge shot 18 for 23 from the field, with almost half his jumpers going uncontested as Oklahoma City failed to switch.
Advertisement
However, the first 12 minutes of their opening game of the semi final round against one of the most athletically talented teams in the NBA (THE NOTHING BUT ATHLETES) overall league WAS THE NEAREST PERFECT BASKETBALL THAT I HAVE EVER SEEN IN MY ENTIRE 70 YEARS INVOLVED WITH THE GAME AS A PLAYER, COACH, OFFICIAL, Radio-TV Color Analyst and basketball fan.
