Spurs thrash Memphis to take a 2-0 cushion
Hawks take control of Eastern Conference series
The San Antonio Spurs thrashed the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday to take a 2-0 lead in their play-off series as Atlanta also cruised past Boston with a second straight win.
San Antonio, boasting the second best regular season record in the league behind the Golden State Warriors, raced into the lead early on against Memphis and never looked back en route to a comprehensive 94-68 win.
It was a second blowout victory for San Antonio over the Grizzlies, who had crashed to a 106-74 defeat in Game One on Sunday.
With Game Three looming tomorrow, San Antonio will now be odds on to take a step closer to a clean sweep against a Memphis side who have been comprehensively outclassed in their opening two Western Conference playoff games.
“So far, we just did our job by winning our two games at home,” Spurs guard Tony Parker said. “We just have to make sure we take care of the ball [in Memphis] and stay focused.
“It’s the play-offs. [We need to] respect the opponent and know that over there it’s going to be a lot harder.”
Memphis’ Matt Barnes called on his teammates to “go down swinging.”
“We are coming into a gunfight
Tuesday’s games:
(Series best-of-seven)
Western Conference
SanAntonio 94 Memphis (San Antonio leads 2-0)
Eastern Conference
AtlantaHawks 89 (Atlanta leads 2-0)
Early lead
Boston 68 72
armed with spoons,” he said. “We have to make some shots. We have to roll the dice a little and find a way to switch things when we get home.
In Atlanta, the Hawks took a stranglehold on their Eastern Conference series against Boston, romping to an 89-72 win to go 2-0 up in the bestof-seven series.
An early barrage of threepointers from Kyle Korver set the tone for a one-sided encounter as the Hawks raced into a big early lead that Boston never looked like overhauling.
Korver, Atlanta’s joint top scorer with Al Horford on 17 points, hit five three-pointers, four of them in the opening seven minutes, to leave Boston reeling.
Celtics guard Evan Turner was disgusted by the way he and his teammates had surrendered the early initiative so easily.
The series now moves to Boston for Game Three on Friday, with the Celtics desperately needing to turn around their form if they are to extend the series.