Warriors a perfect 10 in playoffs
Without Leonard, Spurs are no match for Golden State, which cruises to a 2-0 lead.
GOLDEN STATE 136 SAN ANTONIO 100
OAKLAND — Steve Kerr provided a strong message, just not from his usual spot on the bench: Play with urgency.
The Golden State Warriors did just that for their ailing coach watching from the locker room, and left Gregg Popovich questioning and criticizing his Spurs players for a lack of belief and feeling sorry for themselves without injured superstar Kawhi Leonard.
Stephen Curry had 29 points, seven rebounds and seven assists in three quarters and the Warriors trounced on the short-handed Spurs, running away from San Antonio for a 136100 rout Tuesday night and 2-0 lead in the Western Conference finals.
Kevin Durant added 16 points and Draymond Green provided another impressive all-around performance with 13 points, nine rebounds, six assists, two steals and two blocks. Rookie Patrick McCaw had 18 points and five assists off the bench as Golden State earned its most lopsided victory of the playoffs to go to 10-0.
Jonathon Simmons scored 17 of his 22 points in the first half as the lone bright spot for the Spurs.
“It looked pretty collective to me. I don’t think it was one guy who didn’t believe and he infected everybody else or anything like that. As a group they just let themselves down,” Popovich said. “The truth always quote-unquote sets you free. You can’t sugarcoat it or say, ‘If we had just made a couple shots we’d have been right there.’ That’s pretty lame. So, call it like it is. We didn’t come to play. We felt sorry for ourselves. We need to get slapped and come back and play Game 3 and see who we are.”
Game 3 in the best-ofseven series is Saturday in San Antonio.
Leonard reinjured his left ankle in Sunday’s 113-111 Game 1 loss after coming down on Zaza Pachulia’s foot.
Pachulia left the game injured for a Warriors team already without key reserve forward Andre Iguodala, held out because of soreness in his left knee that limited him to 10 minutes in Game 1.
An X-ray on Pachulia’s bruised right heel was clear, but he was scheduled for an MRI exam on Wednesday.
Golden State quickly established its pass-happy, up-tempo style to take the Spurs out from the opening tip.
“They came out with a sense of urgency from the beginning and they played that way for 48 minutes,” acting Warriors coach Mike Brown said.
Klay Thompson, still struggling to find his steady shooting touch, had 11 points, six rebounds and four assists. The Warriors had 39 assists — the most by any team this postseason — including 30 on their initial 38 baskets.
The bench contributed a season-best 63 points.