NBA Western Conference Finals 2016/17, Golden State Warriors vs. San Antonio Spurs: 5 takeaways from Game 1
Fortunately for me, the much awaited (the past three years to be specific) Warriors – Spurs Playoffs matchup is finally here and from the outset, it looks to be a hyper-competitive series. Unfortunately for me, someone over at the NBA scheduling team decided it’d be a good idea for the match to be broadcast at 1 in the morning.
Which meant I was awake till 4 in the morning heading into a Monday to give you this coverage, woo-friggin-hoo. The match was worth it though, a real nail-biter going into the last minute to be decided with a score of 113-111, favour Golden State Warriors.
A rough sketch
The Spurs came out of the gates in a manner reminiscent of the first game of the ’16 - ‘17 NBA regular season when they absolutely hammered the Warriors, beating them by 27 points. It looked like we’d see a repeat of the same in this game, as the Spurs beat Golden State both offensively as well as defensively, jumping out to a 14-point lead in the first quarter, allowing the Warriors offence to produce a measly 16 points.
LaMarcus Aldridge looked like the version of himself from three years back, leading the Spurs offence, taking advantage of the matchups given to him by posting up the lankier Kevin Durant and the smaller Draymond Green. The Warriors vaguely reassembled themselves in the second quarter, but still trailed by 20 points going into the half. All was lost it seemed, till the Warriors came back and came back big.
Led by Steph Curry and Kevin Durant offensively, the Warriors put up 39 points in the third, just three points less than the total of what they managed to score in the entire first half while stifling the Spurs on the defensive end. They ran with this hot hand all the way into the fourth quarter where they outscored the Spurs by 11 points and won the game.
Some of the takeaways from the game that are likely to affect the series are as listed.
#1 Kawhi Leonard’s ankles might decide the series
Kawhi Leonard, who sat out Game 6 against the Houston Rockets in the last series after he sprained his ankle coming down on James Harden, went down twice in the game in the span of 36 minutes, the second time for good, both times on the same ankle while taking the same kind of shot.
The first incident, came three minutes into the third quarter after he made a three and then tried to run back up the court to get back on defence. He sat out briefly while having it seen by the training staff on the sidelines, only to check back in and this time, take a more permanent hit, after coming down hard on a three-point attempt, courtesy of Zaza Pachulia’s close out.
Leonard, who led the charge offensively and defensively till that point of time was taken off the floor for the rest of the game. A coincidental (?) burst from Stephen Curry at this point, saw the Warriors go on a 19-0 run as they cut a 23-point deficit to single digits. This put the Spurs off balance as the Warriors won what seemed to be until the third quarter, an already decided game.
Three injuries in the span of two games isn’t a welcome sight for Kawhi or San Antonio, who will have an MRI on his ankle, has his next game two days away from now. While Pop is most likely to bench him until they go back to their home turf, the Spurs cannot hope to win the series without their leader on the floor. The Warriors, who have been criticised for playing weak and injured teams in the playoffs are bound to have their various accomplishments in the regular season overshadowed for taking out yet another injured team.