#1 San Antonio Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich’s wife Erin 67 had passed away on Wednesday. Popovich will not be coaching tonight’s game in San Antonio. Assistant coach Ettore Messina is scheduled to coach tonight’s game three for San Antonio. Popovich and the Spurs were headed to San Antonio to prepare to face the Golden State Warriors down in the first round of the playoffs 2-0. Popovich had been married to Erin for over four decades. Spurs and Warriors front office, coaches, players and fans all feel his pain. The Warriors Kevin Durant said, “The whole NBA family is supporting him, got his back through it all,” Durant said. “Feel so bad for Pop.”
#2 During Game 2 on Monday night Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson for Golden State have been the Warriors’ one-two punch with Durant scoring 32 and Thompson 31 to lead the Warriors to their second win in the series.
#3 Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James was a real show stopper with 46 points and 12 rebounds as the Cavs defeated the Indiana Pacers 100-97. The Cavs, who lost Game 1 of the series, felt the pressure of getting the win after the Pacers pretty much controlled the first game and LeBron got fired up and carried most of the load.
#4 If the Oakland A’s can’t get a new stadium built in at either Howard Terminal or the Coliseum, would the A’s consider selling to Portland? A Portland group is interested in buying the A’s.
#1 The Warriors, after having that regular season-ending wrinkle, you couldn’t recognize them now. Was this a ploy created by Warriors head coach Steve Kerr to sit his stars down at the end of the regular and give the San Antonio Spurs the element of surprise for the playoffs?
#2 Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson have been a force in these first two games with Durant scoring 32 points and Thompson scoring 31. They make playing against the Spurs like cutting through butter.
By Daniel Dullum
Sports Radio Service
Monday, April 16, 2018
For the second straight game in their NBA West opening round playoff series, the Golden State Warriors prevailed over the visiting San Antonio Spurs without Stephen Curry, as the Warriors enjoyed a 116-101 win Monday at Oracle Arena.
Golden State has a 2-0 lead in the series, which moves to San Antonio on Thursday for Game 3 at 6:30 pm PT.
Kevin Durant led the Warriors with 32 points, followed by 31 points and five assists from Klay Thompson on 12-of-20 field goal shooting. Andre Iguodala netted 14 points, seven rebounds and five assists, and JaVale McGee added 10 points and seven rebounds.
David West, who left early in the fourth quarter with a left ankle sprain, wound up with 10 points and four boards in 14 minutes for the Warriors.
Curry is expected to miss the remainder of the series due to a sprained left knee.
LaMarcus Aldridge led San Antonio with 34 points and 12 rebounds, and Rudy Gay, who was inserted into the Spurs’ starting lineup, scored 12 points and had three steals. Aldridge was 12-of-12 at the free throw line.
After the Spurs took a 53-47 lead into halftime, Durant and Thompson sparked a decisive 19-5 third-quarter run.
The Spurs hit 41 percent from the floor (35-of-85). Golden State had a 39-35 rebounding edge.
@warriors photo: Golden State Warriors Kevin Durant (left) and Draymond Green (right) address the media at press conference after their game one win at Oracle Arena on Saturday
By Joe Hawkes-Beamon
SRS Contributor
OAKLAND — It almost felt like forever since we’ve seen the Warriors dominate a basketball game from start to finish.
Until Saturday afternoon.
Already without All-Star point guard and two-time MVP Stephan Curry, the defending NBA Champions started their title defense with a 113-92 victory over the visiting San Antonio Spurs in Game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinals.
The win extends Golden State’s win streak to six games in postseason openers, according to ESPN Stats and Information.
Both Kevin Durant and Draymond Green flirted with triple-doubles, as Durant finished with 24 points, eight rebounds and seven assists; while Green chipped in with 12 points, eight rebounds and 11 assists.
Klay Thompson finished with a game-high 27 points. San Antonio had no answer for Thompson, especially coming off of hard screens from Warriors’ bigs, allowing Thompson to shoot 11-of-13 from the floor including 5-of-6 on 3’s in the game.
Golden State held the edge in assists (32 to 19), rebounds (51 to 30) and points-in-the-paint (34 to 22) over the Spurs. The Warriors shot 44-of-81 from the floor (54.3-percent) and 10-of-22 on 3’s (45.5-percent).
Golden State held a 86-63 lead, their biggest of the game, at the end of the third quarter and they never looked back from that point.
JaVale McGee, who made his fourth career postseason start, finished with 15 points on 5-of-7 shooting in just 16 minutes of action was the real story. The 7-foot McGee had two of Golden State’s six blocks and for now, looks like the best center in head coach Steve Kerr’s center-by-committee rotation which includes, Zaza Pachulia and Damian Jones in the mix.
Rudy Gay led San Antonio with 15 points off the bench, to go along with a team-high six rebounds, while LaMarcus Aldridge, San Antonio’s leading scorer during the regular season at 23.1 points per game, scored just 14 points on 5-of-12 shooting in 24 minutes played.
San Antonio was cold from the floor in Game 1, connecting on 32-of-80 (40-percent) of their shots. The Spurs can take some comfort that they did committed fewer turnovers (13 to 15) and shot better at the free throw line (19-of-24 to 15-of-22) than Golden State.
Second-year shooting guard Bryn Forbes added 14 points in 25 minutes for San Antonio.
Golden State is looking to eliminate San Antonio from the playoffs for the second-straight postseason. The Warriors completed a four-game sweep of the Spurs in last season’s Western Conference Finals in route to a 16-1 finish in the postseason and their second championship in three seasons.
The Warriors are 6-2 in the postseason against San Antonio at home.
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series is Monday night at Oracle Arena.
OAKLAND — The Golden State Warriors took the lead for good early in the first quarter and were never headed as they blew out the San Antonio Spurs 113-92 at the Oracle Arena Saturday.
Before the start of the first game of the playoffs, much had been written and discussed about the poor play of the Warriors after the injury to Steph Curry. The team, once the Houston Rockets secured the number one seed in the West, did not play well. They turned the ball over too many times, and they weren’t able to move the ball as well as they had done in the past three seasons. They did not play well on defense either as they were blown out by the Utah Jazz in the last game of the regular season. All those questions were answered Saturday as the blew out the Spurs.
Warriors’ head coach Steve Kerr made a couple of changes to the starting lineup. He named JaVale McGee to start at center and Andre Iguodala started at guard. McGee probably had his best game of the season as played very well on both ends of the court. McGee scored a season-high 15 points and was terrific on defense as he was able to contain the Spurs’ big man, LaMarcus Aldridge. Iguodala scored just three points in the game, but he finished with 4 assists and 7 rebounds. The Spurs, in the playoffs for 21 consecutive years, could not find any answers to stop the Warrior offense. Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson paced the Warriors, and the fans at Oracle Arena went home happy.
The Warriors won the first quarter 28-17. McGee had 9 points and KD 11. The Warriors extended the lead to 16 at the end of the first half 57-41. Klay Thompson started to warm up as he contributed 9 points in the half. Durant had 16 and McGee 11. Rudy Gay led the Spurs with 10. None of the Spurs starters were in double figures in the half. The Warriors outrebounded the Spurs 26-15, and they had three steals and five blocked shots on defense. They held the Spurs to just 34.1% shooting from the floor.
In the third quarter, Golden State, as they have done so many times this season, dominated. They outscored San Antonio 29-22, and the game was essentially over at this point. They increased the lead to 27 with about 7 minutes left in the game. It was at this point that Kerr removed all of his regulars and let the bench finish the game. The Spurs were able to outscore the Warriors just by two points in the final quarter and lost by the final score of 113-92.
Game Notes and Stats: The Warriors were led by Klay Thompson’s 27-point game. Klay also made five 3-point shots and was in rhythm all game long. Kevin Durant poured in 24 points to go with seven assists and eight rebounds. It was quite a game for Durant. Draymond Green almost had a triple-double as he tallied 12 points, 11 assists, and eight rebounds. McGee finished with 15. Shaun Livingston added 11. The Spurs had three players in double figures. LaMarcus Aldridge and Bryn Forbes had 14, and Rudy Gay led the Spurs with 15.
The Warriors shot 54.3% from the floor and held the Spurs to 40%. The Warriors made 10 3-point shots, and the Spurs made nine. The Warriors moved the ball well and found the open shooter repeatedly during the game as they recorded 32 assists. They turned the ball over 15 times, and when they commit less than 16 turnovers, they usually win.
The Warriors’ Steph Curry was examined by the team’s doctors Saturday and is making progress. Steph has been working out with the club but is still expected to miss the first round of the playoffs
Up Next: Game 2 of the best-of-seven series continues Monday night at Oracle Arena. Game time will be at 7:30 pm PT.
#1 You’ve got all kinds of choices in the NBA Playoffs, but focusing on the Western Conference, who does Tony like amongst Houston, Golden State, Utah, Portland, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, and New Orleans?
#2 Houston has had such a good year led by James Harden, whose been a workhorse and put out an all effort to help lead the Rockets this season.
#3 Golden State kind of got the injury epidemic all at once when the “Big Four” of Draymond Green, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Klay Thompson all went down. With Green, Durant, Thompson they ended their season losing by 40 to Utah on Tuesday night, 119-79, is this a prelude to the playoffs or expect for them to break out once the playoffs start?
#4 Turning to baseball, the Oakland A’s suffered some tough loses Tuesday night was no exception with a loss to the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-0. The A’s simply couldn’t do anything with Dodgers starter Hyun-Jin Ryu, who helped shutout Oakland, going six innings and giving up only one hit.
#5 The San Francisco Giants just put Johnny Cueto on the DL. Cueto spent a great deal of time on the DL last season. Cueto is being shelved and is at a 70% performance level because of coming off he mound to field on a bunt and had to cover first base. Cueto turned the other ankle on the ensuing play and manager Bruce Bochy said Cueto could return on Tuesday.
Willie Cauley-Stein led the Kings to a “W” in game 82 on Wednesday night Photo: @SacramentoKings
by Charlie O. Mallonee
Vlade Divac and Dave Joerger met with the press to review the Kings 2017-18 “Year of Development” on Thursday. Despite winning fewer games this season both the GM and Coach were pretty optimistic about the Kings future.
There were times early on in the season where the look on Dave Joerger’s face said: “I’m not having a good time.” As the season progressed and his players improved, Joerger began to enjoy his time on the sideline.
What every Kings fan wants to hear is that their favorite team will be in the playoffs next year. Well, hold there partner. Divac expects the Kings to be improved but stopped short of saying they would be playoff bound.
Dave Joerger is hoping that most of his young players will spend most of the off-season in the Sacramento area working out and getting know each other even better. He really wants them to feel and think like family.
Sacramento – The Sacramento Kings season came to an end on Wednesday night as they defeated the number one seeded playoff team in the NBA Western Conference – the Houston Rockets – 96-83. Now, it is important to know that the Rockets did not allow James Harden and Chris Paul to step on the court for fear that they might sustain an injury that would cause them to miss the playoffs.
Even without the two Houston superstars on the floor, there was some very entertaining basketball played by both teams. The Rockets reserves wanted to impress their coaches that they could contribute if given playing time during the playoffs. The Kings players desperately wanted to send their fans home with a victory to remember until new season tips off next October.
The Kings started fast and finished strong
The Kings won every quarter except the fourth period which they did not need to win because they had the game well in hand by that time. Four of the five Kings starters scored in double figures and seven of the nine players used by Sacramento scored in double digits.
Willie Cauley-Stein finished with a team-high 22 points and he made it a double-double by grabbing 11 rebounds. Buddy Hield scored 14 points, pulled down five rebounds, handed out five assists and made two steals in 27-plus minutes of playing time.
Sacramento shot 47.5-percent (38-for-80) for the game and hit 7-of-26 (26.9-percent) attempts from downtown. The Kings went to the free throw line 20 times but converted only 13 of those opportunities (65.0-percent).
Houston relied on two key players for the entire game
Forward Gerald Green led the way on offense for the Rockets on Wednesday night scoring a game-high 31 points. Green shot 11-for-22 from the field and hit 7-of-17 attempts from 3-point land. RJ Hunter posted 19 points shooting 7-for-16 overall and sinking just 3-of-11 attempts from behind the 3-point line.
Tarik Black played just over 38-minutes against the Kings and recorded a double-double. Black scored 12 points and hauled in 11 rebounds.
The Rockets also played Aaron Jackson who they signed on Wednesday after he had been playing in the Chinese Basketball Association for the Beijing Ducks. Jackson will be eligible to play for Houston in the playoffs. Jackson scored eight points in 34-plus minutes of playing versus the Kings on Wednesday night.
Kings win fewer games in 2017-18
The Kings finish the season with a record of 27-55 for the year. Sacramento finished with a record of 32-50 in 2016-17.
Head Coach Dave Joerger reflects on the game and the season
— Sports Radio Service (@SportsRadioSrvc) April 12, 2018
Charlie O’s and “Chapes” Kings Player of the Year
Hield flies high versus Rockets Photo: @SacramentoKings
We did not have to take a moment to contemplate who our choice of would be our choice for this season because our selection for Player of the Year is a no-brainer in our humble opinion. Second-year guard Buddy Hield has been outstanding in his development and execution in 2017-18.
The big knock on Hield as a player was that he was purely a one-dimensional guard. Hield was a shooter who could come into a game and shoot the ball … period. Experts said he could not handle the ball, set up assists, rebound and he most definitely could not play defense.
Then, the Kings finally signed Bogdan Bogdanovic and the Sacramento backcourt became a very crowded place. Early on in the season, it became apparent that Bogdanovic was going to be a starter along with De’Aaron Fox. That meant Hield would be coming off the bench.
Hield adjusted to being the Kings “sixth man” very quickly and never complained about his role. He frequently provided the spark the team needed to get into a game where they started off slowly.Hield also began to play more minutes per game.
As Hield played more, the turnovers went down as his rebound, assist, and steal numbers went up. Then observers began to notice something else about his game, Buddy Hield was making a real effort to play defense.
As Hield entered game 82 on Wednesday night, he was averaging 13.5 points per game which is the second-best average for the Kings. Hield is the overall points leader for Sacramento with 1065 points.
Hield has averaged 3.8 rebounds, 1.9 assists, and 1.05 assists in 25.3 minutes per game this season. His season-highs show 35 minutes played, 27 points scored, nine rebounds, seven assists, five steals, and two blocked shots.
Hield shooting numbers have also been impressive. Overall, Hield has shot 44.6-percent from the field while converting a team-high 43.1-percent of his 3-Point attempts. He has also been deadly from the free throw shooting 88.8-percent from the stripe.
2017-18 has been a year of real growth and dynamic production for Buddy Hield.
OAKLAND — Familiar foes face each other as the San Antonio Spurs will square off against the defending NBA Champion Golden State Warriors in the first round of the 2018 Western Conference playoffs.
The Spurs (47-35) secured the No. 7 seed after losing 122-98 in New Orleans to end the regular season. The second-seeded Warriors (58-24) lost their final regular season game 119-79 at Utah Tuesday night.
As the Spurs are making their 21st consecutive trip to the playoffs, this will be the first time that the team failed to win 50 games in a season since the 1998-99 season.
The Warriors failed to win at least 60 games for the first time in three seasons, which would’ve tied the Showtime Lakers of the 1980s with four-straight 60-win seasons for most in NBA history.
Golden State won three of the four regular season match-ups against San Antonio: winning 112-92 on Nov. 2 at San Antonio, 122-105 on Feb. 10 in Oakland and 111-107 on March 8 in Oakland.
San Antonio took the regular season final meeting, defeating Golden State 89-75, in San Antonio on March 19.
The two teams met last May in the Western Conference Finals, with Golden State completing a four-game sweep over the Spurs in route to their second title in three seasons.
Here’s the Warriors’ schedule for the first round of the 2018 playoffs:
If these are the Warriors we see when the playoffs begin in a few days, then they won’t make it very far.
The Golden State Warriors wrapped up the regular season on Tuesday night at the Vivint Smart Home Arena with a 119-79 loss to the Utah Jazz and will head into the postseason looking to rekindle the magic that they had through most of their 58-24 season.
They will do so without Stephen Curry for a bit, and they have missed him these past few games while their offense has looked average and their defense poor. Against the Jazz, the Warriors allowed 33 points in the first quarter and 62 in the first half. They trailed by 17 at the end of one and by 21 at halftime, by which the game had essentially been decided.
Final 📊
Klay – 23p Kevin – 13p/4r Kevon – 12p/5r Quinn – 8p/4r Nick – 6p/2r JaVale – 5p/4r Zaza – 4p/6r/2a Draymond – 4p/3r/3a Shaun – 2p/2r/4a Jordan – 2p/2r
The Warriors have no doubled coasted into the postseason, locked into the second seed with no hope of catching the Rockets. But their recent struggles have opened up vulnerabilities as they await their first round opponent, which will be known by the end of Wednesday night.
Meanwhile, the Jazz ended the season on an absolute tear, winning 29 of their final 34 games. Donovan Mitchell finished with 22 points as he looked to put an exclamation mark on his campaign for the Rookie of the Year award.
Perhaps the one saving grace of the blowout loss was that there is no way the Warriors will face the Jazz in the first round. Utah could have slipped to the seventh spot with a loss — but now they will be among the top four. And that is a huge blessing in disguise.
Sports Radio Service 