One of the most amazing playoff games in the 2017 playoffs was played last night in the Oracle. The place was going crazy, the intensity was high, the superstar players were ready to go, the passion was there, great coaches going at each other and the Western Conference Finals were underway. The Spurs in the first half were incredible. LaMarcus and Kawhi were leading the team scoring 18 points and being up by 20 points at the half. The Warriors with Kawhi on the floor were shooting only 13/38 from the field. The Spurs at the half led by 20 points, 62-42 showcasing their exceptional coaching both defensively and offensively, with Leonard and Aldridge showing their offensive repertoire. Leonard's injury in the third quarter send him to the line, he remained in the game, and then he shot an off-balance shot and landed in Pachulia's foot, rolled the same ankle, left the game and did not return.
This injury was the turning point of the game and possibly the series, as without Leonard on the court the Warriors were grabbing offensive rebounds, playing great defense, making threes, with Steph and Durant leading the way with 40 points and 34, outscoring the Spurs 58-33! This shows, how valuable Leonard is both defensively and offensively for the Spurs. Now, there has been a lot of discussions about whether the injury was intentional or not, dirty or just an accident. Leonard after the game stated that he did not do it on purpose, while Pachulia added that he would not do that because he is an athlete too. Either way, it was the toughest loss San Antonio could face, which led to an unbelievable comeback from the Warriors, as they rallied back from 25 points to beat a great team in the Spurs. The Warriors were lucky in the end though, by grabbing long offesnive rebounds, making crazy shots and playing in their home court. This was a game that could possibly affect the series to a large extent, if Leonard is not 100% ready to go in Game 2. The Warriors though, have learned their lesson, and will be ready to go in Game 2, and will be better from the first jump ball of the game.
As stated in my preview (http://morningnba.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/can-spurs-challenge-warriors-preview.html) the Spurs have the exceptional coaching of Greg Popovich the unbelievable talent of Leonard who at the moment is a top-3 player in the world, the experience of a Pau Gasol and Manu Ginobili, and yesterday they showed that they could challenge the Warriors, until Leonard went down. I still think the Warriors will win Game 2, and the Spurs will win both games in San Antonio, going back to Oakland for Game 5 and finishing the series in six games on the road in San Antonio.
The stats, however, do not lie. With Leonard on the court, the Warriors would not have turned the game around, as they did without him. It was an unbelievable comeback by the Warriors, but the turning point of the game was Leonard's ankle injury. If Leonard did not get injured the game would have been in the hands of the Spurs, and the series would have been in jeopardy for the Warriors. Tonight's schedule includes the Game 7 (!!!) between the Celtics and the Wizards at 8 PM ET. Game 2 of the Spurs vs. Warriors series will be on Tuesday 9 PM ET on ESPN.
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