J-Speaks: Spurs Rise Again

When the 2017 NBA Playoffs began, one question of many was who was going to stand in the way of Round Three between the reigning NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers of the Eastern Conference and the defending Western Conference Champion Golden State Warriors of the Western Conference? That one team is the San Antonio Spurs, who showed the fortitude and excellence on both ends of the court that helped them win five titles in franchise history.

After suffering their worst loss in the Gregg Popovich era when they dropped Game 1 of the West Semifinals 126-99 to the Houston Rockets, the Spurs battled back to win Game 2 121-96 two days later, which was then followed up with a 103-92 win in Game 3 on their state rivals home court one week ago.

The Rockets garnered a 125-104 victory in Game 4 to tie the series 2-2, but the Spurs battled the Rockets to a 110-107 overtime win in Game 5 to take a 3-2 series lead. In the victory though, they lost their star player and MVP candidate Kawhi Leonard to an ankle sprain and All-Star lead guard Tony Parker, who had season-ending surgery on his left quadriceps tendon, which took place last Friday.

Going into Game 6 on Thursday night, many believed that the Rockets chances of sending the series back to San Antonio for Game 7 looked very nice. Then the game began and the Spurs took it to the Rockets and garnered a 114-75 win at Toyota Center on Thursday night to win the series 4-2 and they will meet the No. 1 Seeded Warriors in the Western Conference Finals on Sunday afternoon in Oakland, CA.

“Everybody picked it up. Four, five, to six guys all had good games. It wasn’t one guy scoring 40,” Popovich, whose garnered his 166^th playoff win as Spurs head coach, third all-time said after the game.

“You look at D.J. [Dejounte Murray], he came in, he assisted. He played D [defense]. Scored for us. The big guys [LaMarcus Aldridge, Pau Gasol and Dewayne Dedmon] were great. Patty [Mills] controlled everything really well and the perimeter guys Jon [Jonathon Simmons], Danny [Green] and Manu [Ginobili], everybody contributed. It was a real team effort.”

If you have watched the Spurs over the past few seasons during the regular season, coach Popovich on many occasions has sat some key personnel like Parker, Manu Ginobili, All-Star LaMarcus Aldridge, Patty Mills, All-Star and future Hall of Famer Pau Gasol, Danny Green and Leonard and has given the likes of Dejounte Murray, Kyle Anderson, Jonathon Simmons, rookie Davis Bertans, Dewayne Dedmon and veteran David Lee a chance to play major minutes. These are opportunities to develop the rest of the cast so that if the team is in a pinch during the postseason and they need others to step up to the forefront, they are ready to do so like in the final five games of their prior series and we see the results.

Two other aspects that the Spurs have in their favor is a system that is predicated on ball and player movement, find the mismatch at the offensive end and consistent focus and attention to detail at the defensive end.

In the Game 1 loss versus the Rockets, who led by as many as 39 points, the Rockets were 22 for 50 from three-point range, setting not just a franchise record in their playoff history and making the second most in NBA postseason history. They had 36 points in the paint, to the Spurs 32; registered 30 assists on 40 made field goals and had 27 fast break points.  

Defensively, the Rockets held the Spurs to 36.9 percent from the field; converted 15 turnovers, 10 of which were steals into 19 points and had five block shots.

While MVP candidate James Harden had a stellar game with 20 points, 14 assists and four steals, forward Trevor Ariza led the way with 23 points, going 5 for 10 from three-point land. Center Clint Capela had a playoff career-high of 20 points, to go along with 13 boards and two blocks, connecting on 8 of 10 from the floor. Ryan Anderson had 14 points and six boards, hitting 4 for 10 from distance. Sixth Man of the Year candidates Lou Williams and Eric Gordon had 13 and 11 points respectably off the bench.

In Game 4, the Rockets went 19 for 43 from three-point range and held the Spurs to just 7 for 23; had 28 assists; turned 14 Spurs miscues, seven of which were steals into 17 points and stayed close on the boards, being out-rebounded by just three 53-50.

Harden had a stellar performance with 28 points, 12 assists, five boards and two steals on 10 for 18 shooting, including hitting four triples. Gordon had 22 points off the bench on 8 for 13 from the field, including 6 for 9 from distance. Ariza had 16 points, six boards, five assists and two steals. Williams off the bench and Anderson each had 13 points and starting guard Patrick Beverly, on a night he learned about the passing of his grandfather Rheese Morris before the game had 10 points and six boards.

In the Spurs victories in Games 2, 3 and 5, the Spurs found a way to control the Rockets, outscoring them 33-13 in the fourth quarter of Game 2. In that contest, the Spurs held the Rockets to just 11 for 34 shooting from three-point range; out-rebounded them 54-39, including 16-9 on the offensive glass; outscored them on the fast break 20-13 and outscored them in the paint 54-44.

In the Spurs 103-92 win in Game 3, the Spurs dominated the Rockets on the glass again to the tune of 64-45; held them to just 12 for 39 from three-point range and held them to just nine fast break points.

While Harden had 43 points on the evening, Ariza and Capela were the only other Rockets to score in double figures with 17 and 12 respectably.

While the Rockets pulled out a victory in Game 4 on Sunday, they lost Capela’s understudy in Nene, who was injured late in the first period. He missed the remainder of the game and left the Toyota Center to undergo an MRI at a nearby hospital.

That loss was felt in Game 5, that the Spurs pulled out as mentioned earlier 110-107 in overtime. While the Spurs out-rebounded the Rockets by just five 52-47, they doubled them on the offensive glass 18-9; dominated them in paint, outscoring them 56-42 and turned 16 Rockets miscues into 18 points.  

Leonard led the way with 22 points, 15 boards, two steals and two blocks, but injured his ankle late in the middle part of the third quarter when he stepped on Harden’s foot while trying to get back in transition.

In his stead, Green and the rest of the Spurs stepped up and won the game. Green had seven of his 16 points in the extra stanza, including the three-point play that put the Spurs on top with 30.1 seconds left in overtime.

Despite having a triple-double of 33 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists, Harden’s three-pointer to send the game into a second overtime was blocked from behind by Ginobili.

Leading up to that moment, the MVP candidate had just four points on 1 for 6 shooting and four turnovers in the final five minutes of regulation and the extra frame. It did not help that as the game went on, he had to guard either Gasol or Aldridge when the Rockets went small as the game went on.

The close out game on Thursday night was a masterpiece by the five-time champion Spurs, who played again without Leonard.

Aldridge, who has had a much-maligned postseason entering the Semis, the Texas native followed up his 18-point, 14 rebound performance in the Game 5 win with a stellar 34 points and 12 boards on 16 for 26 from the field.

“Kawhi’s a great player, but we have guys that are ready to play and the organization works these guys out every day,” Aldridge said after the game. “Every young guy on the team puts in extra time to be ready to play. Just having guys ready to play. Having those guys work hard all year, it makes it a little bit easier for us for sure.”

Aldridge’s fellow front court mate in veteran Pau Gasol also had a double-double of 10 points and 11 rebounds to go along with five assists and three blocks.

Guard Jonathon Simmons had 18 points; Patty Mills, who started again in place of the injured All-Star guard Tony Parker, who had surgery last week to repair a ruptured quadriceps tendon in his left leg had 14 points and seven assists; Danny Green had 10 points, six rebounds, two steals and two blocks; rookie guard Dejounte Murray had a double-double off the bench with 11 points and 10 rebounds, to go along with five assists and two steals. Kyle Anderson also had a solid game with seven points, six rebounds and three assists off the bench.

The Spurs shot 53.1 percent from the field and held the Rockets to 28.6 percent from the floor. The Rockets went just 13 for 40 from three-point range; were out-rebounded 69-44; committed 14 turnovers that Spurs turned into 22 points and were outscored in the paint 62-18. The Spurs registered 32 assists and committed just eight turnovers, and recorded nine blocks.

“It’s a great moment. Today, we are very satisfied with the way we played,” Ginobili, who averaged 6.2 points and 3.7 rebounds in the series said to NBATV’s/NBA on TNT’s Allie LaForce after the win. “We thought we had a chance even without Tony and Kawhi because we we’re going to move the ball and attack in a different way and we were going to be more unpredictable, but for sure we didn’t expect a 40-point lead.

Harden, who averaged 28.5 points this postseason, had just 10 points on 2 for 11 shooting and both of his field goals were three-pointers, as he went just 2 for 9 from distance.

Ariza and Capela were the only other Rockets to score in double figures with 20 and 15 respectably. Anderson, who came off the bench was held scoreless. Gordon had just six points on 2 for 9 from the field and both of his makes were from three-point range. Williams was held to six points himself on just 3 for 7 shooting.

While the Spurs are facing an uphill battle against the Warriors in the Western Conference Finals, which begin Sunday at 3:30 p.m. on ABC, it would be a major mistake to think they will be steamrolled, even without Parker.

While the Warriors might have the star power with All-Stars Draymond Green and Klay Thompson and former MVPs in Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant and maybe they have the better team, but the Spurs have experience, an unwavering confidence and a system that will always give them a chance.

Round Three between the Cavs and Warriors has a good chance of taking place, which is what most American wants, but it will not happen without a fight, at least on the Spurs end of things.

Information, statistics, and quotations are courtesy of 5/5/17 espn.com story “Spurs’ Tony Parker Has Ruptured Quadriceps Tendon.” 5/12/17 9 a.m. edition of NBATV’s “Gametime,” with Vince Cellini, Dennis Scott and Sam Mitchell, with report from Allie LaForce; www.espn.com/nba/team/schedule/_/name/sa; www.espn.com/nba/player/gamelog/_/id/2983/lamarcus-aldridge and www.espn.com/nba/player/_/id/3992/james-harden.