Tim Duncan notched his first triple-double in nearly two years with 15 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists and seven Spurs players featured
in double figures as San Antonio recorded a resounding 118-98 win over the embattled Golden State Warriors.
In the last year’s series, the Spurs took all three games by at least 12 points. They started from where they left last season and dumped the Warriors for the 9th
consecutive time, complementing their best ever start to 15-2 on the way.
First Half
The Spurs hit the ground running from the very start as they raced to 17-9 advantage within the first six minutes of the game. The Warriors however bounced back and with
the scores at 22-16, reeled off a 10-1 run within a span of two minutes to hold advantage at 26-23.
This proved to be the last time when the Warrior got into the lead as the Spurs scored seven unanswered points in the last 35 seconds of the first quarter to gain a lead
they never relinquished.
The Spurs continued their momentum in the second quarter as well, outscoring the Warriors midway by 15-7 as the teams went into the break with San Antonio sitting pretty
at 58-48.
Second Half
The Spurs continued their domination going into the second half as the Warriors got frustrated by the minute. With 3:06 left in the third quarter Richard Jefferson nailed
in an alley dunk shot to give the Spurs an 82-66 lead. Jefferson couldn’t control his balance and appeared to land on David Lee. Lee, who has recently returned from an injury layoff, was not impressed and shoved him.
Antonio McDyess joined the altercation and exchanged heated words with Lee and players from both teams came rushing in. The referees though ensured that sanity prevailed
and handed a double technical to both Lee and Jefferson after a brief consultation.
The high tempered encounter entered its final quarter following the same trend with the Spurs comfortably in the driving seat racing towards the victory. They opened a 14-5
spurt down the stretch capped by a Tiago Splitter jumper to hand the Spurs their biggest advantage of the match at 116-93, a run which completely shut the doors on the Warriors.
The match finally ended at 118-98 with the Warriors being outscored in every quarter of the game.
Main Players
Manu Ginobili once again led the scoring for the Spurs as he has done all season with 27 points. DeJuan Blair and Gary Neal scored 16 and 14 points respectively while Grant
Hill, Tony Parker and Richard Jefferson netted 12 apiece to complement Tim Duncan’s exploits.
With Monta Ellis failing to make an impression, Stephen Curry led the Warriors attack with a match high 32 points and David Lee finished with 18 points, 5 assists and 7
boards but their endeavors were not enough to prevent the Golden State slump to their 8th defeat in the last 10 games.
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