NBA Playoffs 2017: Who will the Spurs play in Conference Finals?
The San Antonio Spurs defeated the Houston Rockets in six games and now will face the Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Finals.
No Tony Parker for the rest of the playoffs. No Kawhi Leonard in Game 6 against the Houston Rockets. It doesn’t matter for the San Antonio Spurs, who continue to find different ways to win games without two of their starters. Heading into Houston without their superstar, many expected things to get pushed a Game 7 in San Antonio, but head coach Gregg Popovich and the Spurs players decided this series was over.
The Spurs ended the battle for Texas with the Rockets and thrashed James Harden’s squad on their home floor, by a score of 114-75. Without Leonard due to his ankle injury, the Spurs got a huge night from LaMarcus Aldridge, who scored 34 points on 16-for-26 shooting. Jonathon Simmons was fantastic in place of Leonard, adding 18 points and solid defense on Harden.
San Antonio will move ahead to a much-awaited battle with the No. 1 seed Golden State Warriors. During the regular season, the Warriors and Spurs dueled three different times, with the Spurs taking two out of the three games. They met opening night, when Durant made his debut with the Warriors. The Spurs came out fast and defeated the Dubs, 129-100.
The next matchup was the infamous Saturday night ABC game where neither team had their stars play. It was a battle of the second units, which the Spurs ended up winning, by a score of 107-85. The Warriors got revenge a few weeks later, as they defeated the Spurs 110-98 at the AT&T Center.
This was a matchup that fans had been waiting for a few years now, but the Spurs were never able to hold up their end of the bargain. We’ll finally see the ultimate team in San Antonio take on the four superstars in Golden State. In the regular season, the Spurs were able to run off the Warriors off the 3-point line and slow down the Dubs defensively. In the third matchup, Golden State was able to force Leonard into tough shots and will look to do that again in this series.
The key matchup will be between the big men of San Antonio in Pau Gasol, LaMarcus Aldridge and David Lee and the Hamptons’ Five lineup of Golden State. Whichever team can force their style of play onto the opponent will likely move onto to the NBA Finals.
Here’s the schedule for the Western Conference Finals between the Spurs and the Warriors.
Game 1: Sunday, May 14 3:30 PM EST ESPN
Game 2: Tuesday, May 16 9:00 PM EST ESPN
Game 3: Saturday, May 20 9:00 PM EST ESPN
Game 4: Monday, May 22 9:00 PM EST ESPN
Game 5*: Wednesday, May 24 9:00 PM EST ESPN
Game 6*: Friday, May 26 9:00 PM EST ESPN
Game 7*: Sunday, May 28 9:00 PM EST ESPN
*If Necessary
Next: The 20 different emotions of Gregg Popovich
The Spurs will have their hands full with the Warriors, who have been red hot in the playoffs so far, not dropping a game. It’ll be a battle for the ages that fans are not going to want to miss out on.