Hoops

Warriors-Spurs Conference Finals series

He's in a contract year and had a great chance to step up in Parker's absence.

They did collectively look quite outclassed though.

Hate to draw attention to it, but Patty Mills' numbers have been pretty poor against Golden State.

Closed the Houston series with a scoring run of 15, 10, 20 and 14.

Against the Warriors:

5 (1/8 FG)
5 (2/6 FG)
7 (2/10 FG)

Spurs might not have to reach so far now to keep him?

...and loading up on talent.

Maybe it is just me but I find the NBA very boring compared to the NBL.

NBA allows players to travel constantly by taking three steps and taking off their pivot foot.

The talk about this play is so over dramatised.. similar plays occur 5 times a game.
LaMarcus Aldridge did the exact same thing to Durant today. How often do you see a jump shooter fouled down low? Every Game!! It occur often enough for development coaches to teach players how to land/fall to prevent these injuries, that's saying something.
If Leonard hadn't busted his ankle minutes earlier on his own teammate it wouldn't have even gotten a mention anywhere.

As for talent accumulation, it's always happened in the league and always will, social media is to blame for this over played complaining.
Celtics in the 60's
Lakers/Celtics in the 80s
Bulls 90s
Lakers 00's
Etc

Well koberulz, seeing the play that took him out of the game is the one where he lands on the player in the game, then yes I am for real, as is logic

*yawn*

Time for the NBA to take steps to prevent mass talent accumulation. They can call it the Durant rule.

*yawn*

:(

Yeah, unfortunately can't see Spurs getting enough points on the board against Warriors, a sweep is likely - sadly!

Put a fork in this one, it's done at half time. If Leonard is out for Game 3 the series is more than likely done. Zaza for WCF MVP

Kawhi out for G2 and possibly G3. Iguodala out for G2 which is a slight reprieve for San Antonio - he's obviously a quiet key for the Warriors since he joined the team.

Well koberulz, seeing the play that took him out of the game is the one where he lands on the player in the game, then yes I am for real, as is logic

Having watched a highlight package of how Bowen used to do it without making it look too obvious, when it clearly was, it does make it more plausible that Zaza knew exactly what he was doing. I'm still on the fence though.

Tough break for the Spurs, the team really fell apart without Kawhi this time around.

There was 2 instances where Kawi hurt his ankle. One when he stepped on David Lee's foot on the bench and the other when he landed on Zaza which was more serious. There's talk that this was a deliberate play by Zaza. I'm not really sure but Bill Simmons reckons it's 60/40 that it was intentional. Jalen Rose used to step under Kobe too back in the day to add to what Uncle Phil was saying.

If you're the Spurs I reckon you rest Kawi so he's ready for game 3 as there's a bigger gap between game 2 and 3 so he has extra time to recover. You hope LA goes for 40 but if not you just have to try and win at home with Kawi back and then try and win game 5 or 7 on the Warriors home floor.

Koberulz, he landed on Zaza and not the bench. So the bench didn't really impact his injury

Bench location is fine, makes for better atmosphere.

Going under a player is not however, time to tech for those.

I agree with what Van Gundy said in that play where Leonard did his ankle should be a flagrant on Pachulia. Bruce Bowen used to do it all the time and I remember Tay Allen mentioning how dirty a play it was a few years back. I have done my ankle so many times when a guy gets under me when I shoot - particularly in social ball where the refs don't watch it closely. While it may/may not be dirty, it is definitely reckless and needs to be discouraged as it is a safety issue. Obviously Kawhi tweaking it on the bench players foot a few minutes before didn't help either - I agree the bench is too close to the court.

With Kawhi's influence on both ends, he is the number one player in the NBA I would pick to start a team around right now. He couldn't be stopped before that injury in today's game. I don't like the Spurs and am going for Golden State but it is a huge bummer when an injury jeopardises what could be an epic series. Let's hope the docs and trainers can get him ready to play for game 2.

Regardless of how the injury occurred, the bench always looks far too close to the court. Wasn't Rondo fined earlier in the play-offs for trying to trip an opponent while sitting on the bench?

Great, as if the Warriors needed a lucky injury to go there way. Yet another boring series awaits us.

Koberulz, he landed on Zaza and not the bench. So the bench didn't really impact his injury

Great start to the series marred somewhat by the Leonard injury.

Will Draymond stop hanging out with Zaza now is the real question...

Executing against Houston without 2 starters is a different thing than executing against Curry/Durant & co. Yeah certainly hope he recovers quickly. I was quietly confident they could do something special in the WCF, but they certainly need him on deck

Warriors went on a 18-0 run at that point. I think the +/- shift was +20ish with Kawhi on and -20ish when he was off. Which immediately brings to mind the idea that it makes a case for Kawhi as MVP, but the narrative just prior to the game was about how Pop and his roster were a thing of beauty that could execute even without two starters.

Dropping a road game wouldn't have been unexpected though so if they can get Kawhi back for G3 or before, they're a chance (I hope).

The stats from when Kawhi went off make for frightening reading if he misses any games.

Khazzouh, who has already signed with the Kings for 2011-12, leaves this week for Los Angeles, where he will meet his agent and travel to several cities for trials with NBA franchises. It will be an eye-opener for the 209-centimetre 25-year-old.

'Julian's great for Australia because he's rangy and a good athlete,' Turner said.

'To go the NBA, he'd have to be [18 kg] heavier and just as agile. So the idea is to really just expose himself to those teams and understand what those guys do to reach that level. For instance, when Luc Longley came out of college he was a very slight centre. When he finished his career he was a seven-foot-two [215cm] man-mountain. He learned how to build his body and Julian would have to learn about that too.

'Unless something spectacular happens, we expect Julian to be a King next year. But if something did happen for him over there, it would be great for him, great for the game and great for Australia. He would join Andrew Bogut and Pat Mills on the world stage.'