Spurs Win 19 Straight

It wasn't always pretty, in fact sometimes it was ugly, but the Spurs pulled it out. Despite trailing for the majority of the 3rd quarter and looking absolutely terrible that quarter, the Spurs remained undefeated in these playoffs. They are now up 1-0 over the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals behind a 101-98 victory.

Matt Bonner, Boris Diaw, and Danny Green looked awful on offense and for some reason kept jacking threes despite looking awful. Luckily, Splitter, Neal, and Ginobili stepped it up. Tiago Splitter had 9 key points and drew a crucial charge to help turn the game around. Ginobili led the Spurs with 26 points and was definitely the biggest key to the victory tonight. He finally got it going for the Spurs in the 4th after they were struggling a great deal offensively. Gary Neal was huge and was great down the stretch.

The Spurs went with an extremely small lineup at the end of the game. They had Neal, Ginobili, Parker, Jackson and Duncan. You rarely see an NBA team run 4 guards out there, but the Spurs ran this lineup the majority of the 4th quarter. Stephen Jackson did an amazing job guarding Durant and even added a few buckets. Jackson was like Bruce Bowen with his amazing defense. Very nice to see Jackson play great defense like that.

The other two parts of the big 3, Duncan and Parker both had decent, but unspectacular games. Parker had 18 points, 8 rebounds, and 6 assists. Tim Duncan had 16 points and 11 rebounds. Each can definitely play much better though.

The most satisfying part for the Spurs has to be that they won this game despite the turnovers. They had 12 turnovers in the 1st half. How do you win with 12 turnovers in one half? They finished with 17 turnovers for the game. If the Spurs win after that game, then how can they lose? Too much depth, too much skill, too much desire.

-Noland

Spurs Earn 2nd Postseason Sweep

The San Antonio Spurs are now 8-0 in the playoffs. They have now won 18 in a row and look pretty dang formidable. We will see if the Thunder can slow them down. Unless the Lakers manage to overcome a 3-1 deficit to beat the Thunder. Game 5 is tonight and if the Thunder wins the Western Conference Finals will be set.

The Spurs certainly deserved to advance to the finals and they did it due to several standout players. They were led by the great Tim Duncan. Duncan had 21 points and 9 rebounds in a typical Duncan game. Tony Parker continued his outstanding season by adding 17 points. Danny Green continued his breakout season as he added 14. If you had told me Danny Green would have been a critical part of a Spurs run to the Western Conference Finals in the beginning of the year, I probably would not have believed you. This guy and several others just keep coming through though. Another guy is Gary Neal, this guy went undrafted by the Spurs, was sent to the D-League this year and still was huge in a clinching game. Neal had 14 points in just 14 minutes last night. Splitter and Ginobili each added 11. That is 6 guys in double figures. This is actually a team. Unlike some folks in the extreme southeast part of the country.

Fun Fact: This game featured Duncan, Parker, and Ginobili playing their 130th career postgame together. Which is highest for any active trio in the NBA.

Who can stop these Spurs?

-Noland