OAKLAND, Calif. – Still unbeaten, the Golden State Warriors have a few days to heal up again. Gregg Popovich’s time will be spent working to get his San Antonio Spurs to wake up, before it’s too late.
And determine whether injured superstar Kawhi Leonard might be healthy enough to return from an ankle injury, too.
Sure, the Warriors just pulled off a 36-point thrashing of the Spurs two days after squeaking out a 113-111 victory in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals – their second-largest postseason win behind a game from 1948 when the Philadelphia Warriors won by 39 at St. Louis.
Draymond Green, for one, doesn’t believe the Warriors will get anything easy when they arrive in San Antonio for Saturday’s Game 3.
“They’re going to play as hard as they can until it’s over. So, we know we’re not taking their heart,” he said after Tuesday’s 136-100 rout. “At the end, all we did was what we were supposed to do, we took care of home court. Now the real challenge is going on the road and trying to get some wins.”
Starting center Zaza Pachulia was scheduled for an MRI exam Wednesday on his bruised right heel after an X-ray was negative. Key reserve and 2015 NBA Finals MVP Andre Iguodala’s status was unclear after he missed Game 2 with soreness in his left knee.
“The schedule comes in and helps us out,” guard Shaun Livingston said. “We miss him out there, but he’ll get healthy and in the meantime it’s up to the rest of us to stay ready.”
They certainly did Tuesday.
Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant and Golden State’s starters got plenty of rest in the fourth quarter on a night the bench delivered a season-best 63 points.
Popovich was left perplexed and downright disgusted that his team got dominated in such embarrassing fashion without Leonard, who re-injured his tender left ankle in Game 1 after stepping on Pachulia’s foot.
Popovich had no guess about Leonard’s status for Game 3, saying it would likely be decided as late as Friday or Saturday.