Warriors rout Spurs 136-100 in Kawhi Leonard's absence for lopsided Game 2 win
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Loading...The Golden State Warriors romped past the Kawhi Leonard-less San Antonio Spurs 136-100 Tuesday night at Oracle Arena to seize a 2-0 Western Conference Finals lead.
According to Sportsnet Stats, the Warriors are now sitting pretty when it comes to their chase for the Larry O'Brien Trophy:
A wire-to-wire rout, Game 2 proceeded in expected fashion with both Leonard (ankle) and Tony Parker (quad) out of San Antonio's lineup.
Thanks to their absences, the Spurs were left without a clear on-ball playmaker to guide the offense—which meant they were left to play catch-up against a Warriors team that was firing on all cylinders with sharpshooters galore dotting the arc.
And just as he did in Game 1, Stephen Curry paced the Warriors' scoring surge. In 31 minutes, Curry poured in 29 points (8-of-13 shooting, 6-of-9 from three) to go with seven rebounds, seven assists and three steals.
Five of those three-point conversions came in the first half, and they allowed the Warriors to build an insurmountable edge the likes of which the Spurs hadn't faced in at least two decades, per ESPN Stats and Info.
At that point, several NBA scribes observed the Spurs were operating at a deficit in the talent department that was too large to overcome.
Kevin Durant added 16 points (6-of-10 shooting) to complement Curry, and the Warriors were able to run away from the Spurs thanks to a 63-53 bench scoring advantage.
But despite the blowout, the Spurs were able to take solace in the performance of swingman Jonathon Simmons—who started in place of Leonard and poured in a playoff career-high 22 points and proved to be the only sustainable source of offense for the Spurs.
In fact, Simmons was the only Spurs starter who finished in double-figures on a night when San Antonio shot 37 percent from the field, was outscored by 30 from three and lagged behind 39-21 in the assist department.
Following a dispiriting showing, the Spurs will turn their attention to Game 3, which is scheduled for Saturday night (9 p.m. ET, ESPN) at AT&T Center.
If there's a sliver of good news for the Southwest Division champions, it's that head coach Gregg Popovich told reporters Leonard is questionable for Game 3.
Should Leonard make a quick recovery in time to suit up, the Spurs should be reinvigorated by his return and put up a more stout fight reminiscent of their early effort in Game 1.
Source: Bloomberg Pro Terminal
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