Warriors rally for 113-111 win after Spurs lose Leonard

The Golden State Warriors are expected to win every series they play since adding Kevin Durant, but the San Antonio Spurs led by 20 points at halftime in Game 1 and at one point were up by 25. His absence leaves a significant gap on the Spurs roster, which did not go unnoticed by teammates like Manu Ginobili. “So we’re a little out of sorts because we’re trying to push it, trying to push it”. If one of them is off, the other is there to make up for it. “And besides, if it wasn’t bad enough, we lost our best player”. “We’ll see tomorrow and the next day”.

Game 2 is at 8 p.m. Tuesday in Oakland, Calif.

Leonard said after the game that he’s going to try to play in Game 2, but if we’re being honest he’s probably a long shot. It seems unlikely that the National Basketball Association would retroactively punish Pachulia for the foul, particularly if the intent was not clear. Leonard said when asked the question.

“I’m not sure, just very painful because I tweaked it before the last time, the last shot I shot, but it’s hard to tell right now”, Leonard said.

Leonard had already scored 26 points with eight rebounds in just 24 minutes of action before leaving in agony midway through the third quarter.

Before his injury Leonard had been at his clinical best – scoring 26 points on an efficient 7 of 13 from the field. He was injured near the same spot less than two minutes later.

Without Leonard the Spurs seemed to loose belief that they could win while the Warriors confidence only grew.

The man who was signed in the offseason to help lead the Warriors to another title scored 12 points in just over three minutes of game time as Golden State took a 101-100 lead.

Losing Leonard could be the story of this series, though coach Gregg Popovich had no update except that Leonard hurt the same foot. I haven’t talked to anybody.

Reporter hospitalized: ESPN reporter Shelley Smith suffered stroke symptoms in the Warriors’ locker room following the game and was moved to the training room, so the team’s medical staff could attend to her.

“We need Kawhi to score”. “I mean, we’re not that type of team”, Durant was quoted. When he went down, the Warriors were starting to pick up, to feel good about themselves, to increase the pressure on everybody else. We wish that he gets healthy.

Before the game Popovich raved about Mills and joked about him becoming a free agent at the end of the season and how the Spurs could struggle to retain him. Pachulia called any speculation that he’d intentionally undercut Leonard as “stupid”. Leonard’s comments likely won’t do much to quell the widespread outrage over the play, but at least he doesn’t believe that there was any intent on Pachulia’s part.

“It’s the playoffs. You’ve got to expect everything”, Curry said. “We’re not that type of team”. The play where he took Kawhi down and locked his arm in Dallas and could’ve broken his arm.