Warriors Look to Avenge Spurs Loss in Game 2

Forget about Golden State Warriors Stephen Curry’s 44 points in Game 1 on Monday night, it was all about the San Antonio Spurs 16-point rally and subsequent win.

The Spurs’ efforts gave them the distinction of the first postseason team to rally from such a large deficit with just 4 minutes left. But that was only the beginning as the Spurs continued their 18-2 roll and won 129-127 in double overtime.

Now Game 2 is on Wednesday night in San Antonio and the Warriors will unlikely enter knowing they can’t ever count the home team out of the game.

Their strong offense and a tight defense can turn things around. For Game 1, Tony Parker led in scoring with 28 points (16 points came in the fourth quarter and the two overtimes), followed by Danny Green’s 22 points. Kawhi Leonard contributed with 18 points and nine rebounds while Manu Ginobili added 16.

Spurs Manu Ginobili

Ginobili said on Tuesday via ESPN, “I don’t know how we managed to tie the game. We had some really big shots before regulation, in the first overtime and second overtime. It got us the win, but not sure if we deserved it.”

He struggled in the game, missing seven consecutive shots, but he hit the game-winning 3-pointer with 1.2 seconds left.

In the first half, the Spurs shot 38 percent from the field but found success on the free throw line as they went 13 for 14 while Golden State didn’t fare as well with their 5 for 10 shooting.

For Golden State, losing to the Spurs on their San Antonio court isn’t anything new: it was their 30th straight loss. Their last win came  on Feb. 14, 1997 (including regular season or playoffs win).

Just to put this in perspective: on this date, Curry was 8-years-old and Tim Duncan was a college hoops player at Wake Forest.

Duncan played in Monday’s game, adding 19 points with 11 rebounds. He played for 35 minutes but he exited the game due to illness as the comeback started but played at the end of each overtime period.The player had said on Tuesday he already feels better.

Golden State Warriors Guard Stephen Curry

Keys to Game 2

Looking toward Wednesday’s game, the Spurs will need to stop Curry. From Monday’s game, he had 11 assists for the game, 22 points alone in the third quarter (9 for 12) and in 3-pointers, he went 4 for 8. But after that, Leonard, who was defending Curry, held him to six points for the rest of the game.

This matchup will likely happen again on Wednesday and Curry will be better prepared.

He said of Leonard via ESPN, “Kawhi did a good job of just running me off the 3-point line and funneling me to help and relying on that second line of defense to step up. There are certain plays where I looked at the film and I could have attacked a different angle or on different spots on the floor and still got my jumper off against Kawhi. I’ll make my adjustments there.”

The Spurs may also want to keep their eye on Klay Thompson. He fouled out but not before he had 19 points with five rebounds. He could be paired up with Parker again, who couldn’t hit from the paint for 3 1/2 quarters. The likelihood of so many Thompson fouls will be less for this second game.

For the Warriors, who sit at +5000 to win this year’s Championship, they’re the underdog (Spurs are +450) and will put Monday’s loss behind them. They have to and it’s been done before.

In their first game for Round 1 against the Denver Nuggets, those lost on an Andre Miller basket that went in at the buzzer. They went on to win the next three games.

But it won’t happen this time as the Spurs get win No. 2 (-7, 204.5 o/u).