Spurs face quick turnaround before conference finals

Despite Leonard’s absence, the Spurs throttled Houston 114-75 in Game 6 at the Toyota Center to advance to their first Western Conference Finals since 2014.

They entered the game down three games to two in the series against the San Antonio Spurs.

The Spurs held the Rockets to less than 100 points for the third time in this series after they been limited to less than 100 points just five times in the regular season.

Leonard’s ankle problem wasn’t the only injury San Antonio dealt with in this series, as it came after the Spurs lost veteran Tony Parker to a season-ending quadriceps injury in Game 2.

Jonathon Simmons started in Leonard’s place against the Rockets on Thursday night and scored 18 points.

Danny Green had 10 points and six rebounds for the Spurs, who shot 53.1 percent from the floor, but were only 5-for-22 from 3-pointers.

Except for one thing: He said that when Kawhi Leonard was actually playing.

Harden’s baffling performance in front of a Houston crowd of 18,050 at the Toyota Center arena was nearly as big a stunner as the Spurs’ winning a National Basketball Association playoff elimination contest by a whopping 39 points. “We’ve got just to figure out a way to get better, and we will”. “It is going to hurt and linger”, said Rockets coach Mike D’Antoni.

“For whatever reason, this game we didn’t have the juice and the stuff”, D’Antoni said.

During the regular season, the Warriors led the league scoring 113.2 points per 100 possessions while the Spurs led the league holding opponents to just 100.9 points per 100 possessions.

Season series: Spurs won, 2-1. I mean, he’s had a historic year, and you can’t just say, ‘OK, one game …’ and all of the sudden, social media goes insane.

After being bludgeoned by a barrage of 3-pointers in Game 1, coach Gregg Popovich and the Spurs began defending James Harden’s pick-and-rolls far differently in Game 2, refusing to give the MVP candidate one-on-one looks around the basket even if it meant leaving certain shooters open.

“You’ve got to take it for what it is”, Harden said.

For the Spurs to have a realistic chance at upsetting the Warriors, they will need someone to step up alongside Leonard. Trevor Ariza (ah-REE’-zah) was Houston’s top scorer with 20 points. “I’m sure most people don’t really know, and I’ll leave that to him to describe as much as he wants to describe”.

The Warriors are led by four All-Stars – Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green – and enter the conference finals with a ideal playoff record. “As a team, as a unit, we didn’t have a rhythm and they capitalized on that”, added the 27-year-old shooting guard.