Warriors dispose of Spurs, in Finals at 12-0
SAN ANTONIO — Let the healing begin.
For Tony Parker. For David Lee. And, of course, for Kawhi Leonard.
The Spurs as a whole, at least from a mental standpoint, and their fans could also use some tender loving care after enduring the painful what-could-havebeen Western Conference finals against the Golden State Warriors.
With Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant combining for 65 points, the Warriors completed a series sweep with a 129-115 victory Monday night that sent them to the NBA Finals for the third year in a row. The Warriors become first NBA team to start the playoffs 12-0.
“It’s great to be one of the last two teams standing, we’ll see how it goes,” said Durant, who added 12 rebounds.
It was a tough ending for a team that won 61 games in its first season in 20 years without Tim Duncan, who retired last July.
“When you get seven new guys, and we played for the first time without Timmy’s leadership, to win 61 games and to play well through the first round and the second round and the beginning of the conference finals, I think they did a fine job for themselves,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said.
The hobbled Spurs trailed by as many as 22 points but played hard to the end thanks in large part to Manu Ginobili, 39, scoring 15 points, dishing out seven assists and recording three steals in what could have been the final game of his harddriving, splendid career.
With the fans, includ-
ing many from Argentina, chanting “Manu, Manu,” Ginobili exited with 2:25 left to a standing ovation.
“It was pretty hard to describe,” Ginobili said of the ovation. “It was kind of emotional and overwhelming. It shakes your world a little bit.”
Before the game, Popovich talked about Ginobili’s competitiveness.
“He has that same foot in your neck attitude that Kobe (Bryant) and Michael (Jordan) had, those kinds of guys, Magic (Johnson) and Larry (Bird),” Popovich said. “He plays with that same fire.”
Leonard sorely missed
It was the third time the Spurs have been swept during the Popovich era, but this one comes with an asterisk after Leonard missed the last three games after aggravating his sprained left ankle in the third quarter of Game 1.
The Spurs led by 23 points when Leonard stepped on Zaza Pachulia’s foot on a closeout by the Golden State big man that Popovich angrily labeled a dirty play.
It was all downhill from there for the Spurs.
Without Leonard, their leading scorer, top defender and MVP candidate, the Spurs bore little resemblance to the team that finished with the league’s second-best record behind the Warriors.
The Spurs began the series without Parker, who suffered a post-seasonending injury in the second round. They lost Lee when he went down in the first quarter of Game 3 with an injured knee.
Hoping to find a spark for his downtrodden, injury-decimated team before Game 4, Popovich gave Ginobili his first playoff start since 2013 and his first start of any kind since the 2013-14 season.
“We started him tonight out of respect,” Popovich said. “That was the whole reason for starting him. Before the game you are thinking it may or may not be his last game, and I did not want to miss the opportunity to honor him in front of our home fans, for his selflessness over the years. I mean this is a Hall of Fame player who allows me to bring him off the bench for the last decade or something because it would make us a better team overall.”
Ginobili milestone
With 3,009 career points in the playoffs, Ginobili is just the 24th player in NBA history to score 3,000-plus postseason points.
Curry finished with 36 points and Durant scored 29. Golden State shot 56 percent and was 14-for-39 on 3-pointers. Draymond Green had 16 points, eight rebounds and eight assists.
Kyle Anderson led the Spurs with 20 points.