Western Conference Finals Game One: Predictably and Disappointingly Predictable.

First off let me start with this. I am a little confused by the NBA playoff schedule. How do the Western Conference Finals begin before the Eastern Conference semis have ended? Wouldn’t it have made more sense for game seven between Boston and Washington to be held today and then to start the WCF on Monday? How long did Adam Silver want the Cavs to rest before they had to play again? I hope the Cavs get back from their exotic vacation locales in time for the ECF to start. At this rate they may forget there is still basketball to play, or at least get confused and think they get to go straight to the finals.

For the first 30 minutes of the Western Finals game one I thought perhaps we were not destined to see a 3^rd straight Warriors vs. Cavs final. Or at least it looked as if there was a chance of some “new blood” making it there. Of course a lot of that would depend on what you qualify as “new blood,” as the Spurs are certainly not that. However, this is now unquestioningly Kawai’s team, and for just a moment, or a bit more than a moment, it appeared as if the Spurs might have something to say. Then of course Kawai landed on Pachulia’s foot, headed to the locker room and things went sideways before Greg Popovich even knew what was going on.

Poetry in motion. When the Spurs are rolling, that is the analogy I use to describe watching them. It is cliché, and it is meant to be. The Spurs are a bit cliché and have been for the better part of two decades now. What is that line in “Walk the Line,” where June Carter says to a young Johnny Cash that his sound is “steady like a train, and sharp like a razor.” At their zenith, the Spurs are this. They do not have the razzle and dazzle of the Warriors, or the star power of the Cavs, but they are the maximum sum of their parts, and when it is all working together it is something to behold. We all know what the Spurs are, they are the same every year, they are never the most exciting or sexiest team, but they are always there. Our one true constant, the rock of the NBA. 

In the first quarter this afternoon, everything was coming together for the Spurs. They started with lock down defense and the Warriors were missing everything. The Spurs were exerting their will on the boards and LaMarcus was creating mismatches and hitting those mid-range fall away jumpers and long 2’s that the analytics crowd hates so much. The Warriors looked like they were trying to shake off the rust, while the Spurs looked like they were carrying the momentum from game 6 against the Rockets straight into Oracle Arena. And then of course Kawai! Oh Kawai! After missing game 6 on Thursday many wondered if he would be 100% for game one. He was, and then some. After driving from the top of the key, taking off just past the free throw line and tomahawking down a one handed dunk late in the first quarter, you could almost hear the air go out of Oracle Arena.

The Warriors looked small, their shots weren’t falling and the Spurs roared to a 46-21 advantage. My buddy Yev, started messaging me “The Spurs have got this!,” “I think the Spurs have a real chance!”

Well yes, I suppose they had a chance. Even up 25 though I knew that the 3^rd quarter still had to be played, and for those who don’t know. The 3^rd quarter is when the Warriors roll. As soon as Yev texted me, the Warriors went on an 11-0 run, I go cold feet and messaged back something like “Not so fast, the Dubs are getting hott.”

The Spurs were having none of it though, and rebounded to take a 20 point lead at the half. The ABC halftime show sounded like a Spurs love fest and a Warriors funeral. I think I counted the phrase “Warriors look rusty” a good 5-6 times. Things were setting up for a shake up of the Cavs/Warriors playoffs domination narrative. And thank God. All the good storylines of this playoffs have gone up in smoke so far it seems, save for Isaiah Thomas putting the Celtics on his back in the wake of tragedy. Westbrook/Harden turned into a colossal dud, and even the Spurs/Rockets series went out with a whimper. Hopes that Lob City, could make one last splash in the post season melted away in the first round and the Jazz ended up being nothing more than a sacrificial lamb to the Dubs in round two. The biggest personal disappointment to me was the Baby Bucks blowing the series lead to the Raptors and nixing a potentially great 2^nd round matchup with the Cavs.

So where does that leave us? With the hope the Wizards can wrest game 7 from the Celtics and then give the Cavs a series (Because we know the Celtics cannot.), and the prayer the Spurs can push the Warriors to at least 6 games. Aside from that we have what we have seen so far, the worst playoffs in recent memory, and it really has not been close.

But for 2 ½ quarters on Sunday afternoon it looked as if perhaps the playoffs were about to get interesting. LaMarcus was exploiting mismatches, Kawai was Kawai, Patty Mills was relatively effective, and Manu was not absolutely terrible (Even though he looked like a 55 year old man on the court, Tony Romo would probably look less out of place in an NBA game at this point.). The Warriors made a few mini runs, but every time the Spurs would answer, the lead they had built early on just looked to insurmountable. Even when Curry started to get going, Kawai had an answer, either with an offensive rebound, a no look pass to a streaking Aldridge, or a corner 3. It looked like the Spurs were going to control the game and steal one at Oracle.

Then a scare! After draining a 3 from the corner Kawai stepped back and landed on a teammates foot on the landing, he winced in pain and continued down court. A few minutes later, he shot from the corner, veteran piece of shit Zaza Puchulia slid his food under and down Kawai came on it. Game, set, match, up by 20, but done for, just like that.

The NBA is a funny league. In most sports the equivalent of a 20 point lead would have been safe at that late stage (Unless you are the Atlanta Falcons in the Super Bowl.). A football team would have run out the clock, a baseball team would have brought in a reliever and shut it down. But as soon as Kawai went out the ABC broadcast team immediately proclaimed “This is a dangerous time for the Spurs!”

Are you fucking kidding me! Up 20 late in the 3^rd quarter and this is a dangerous time?! This is a team that just beat the Rockets on the road in a close out game by 39 WITHOUT Kawai. But as soon as he exited game one it was for some reason a death knell. And you knew it within about a minute. The Warriors immediately went on a 16-0 run to cut the lead to single digits and the rest at that point was a given. Sure the final score was a respectably close 113-111, but the final score does not belie the fact. The Spurs blew a massive lead once their top player exited the game. Suddenly Aldridge couldn’t do shit, and all the parts looked out of sorts. No more poetry, this was Johnny drunk/high and kicking out the headlights at the Opry.

I guess I could focus on the comeback, on Steph Curry’s second half explosion. How for the final 18 minutes the Warriors looked like the unstoppable Warrior juggernaut we have gotten used to. But that was not the real story of this game, it was more about the Spurs melting down the stretch, about that steady train jumping the tracks, that sharp razor as dull as a butter knife after Kawai’s injury. Losing any game in which you held a 25 point lead is tough to recover from, but how do you recover from blowing a game like that in the Western Conference Finals on the road? If there is any way the Spurs recover from this they forget about it, move on, and pray to God that Kawai is healthy. 

After the 2013 NBA Finals I thought we had seen the last of the Spurs. I couldn’t imagine any team could lose a title in that kind of heartbreaking fashion with a cast of characters so far past their prime, and rebound. Perhaps I underestimated Pop and Duncan, the system, the heart of a champion, maybe I was wrong in thinking the Big 3 were unstoppable (No one is, besides Jordan in his prime.), or it could have been I never saw Kawai coming (Who did? At least like this? The late first round pick out of San Diego State, a guy who looked like a solid rotation guy, not an MVP candidate.). But there they were one year later for revenge, not just revenge, but they absolutely ran the Heat off the court and indirectly ended the big 3.

So if any team can come back from this kind of disaster it would be the Spurs. But of course this is much different incarnation of the team. Duncan has ridden off into the sunset, Parker is injured, and Manu is a corpse on the basketball court. Really the whole series, or whether or not they can steal a game or two rests on the health of Kawai and whether or not LaMarcus plays like an all-star or a guy with a heart problem. For a moment today we got a glimpse of what a competitive series might look like, but in the end Kawai’s bum ankle may have put that to bed halfway through game one.

It is sad how predictable the NBA can be. There really are no Cinderella stories at this level and in a way it is the fans who lose. We came into this season knowing it was going to end up with the Cavs and the Warriors and halfway through the NBA playoffs nothing has shown us otherwise. It is almost as if Adam Silver had a little wire attached to Kawai’s ankle, whoa there big fella! Getting a little close to throwing off the plot!

I have some friends who claim the NBA is rigged. Today would have been exhibit A I suppose. Kawai goes down, the announcers proclaim “the Spurs are in trouble,” and suddenly all hell breaks loose. I guess the only thing keeping it from turning into the WWE is the fact that Pachulia just did the old, step under the shooter trick instead of whacking Kawai with a steel chair. I think everyone else was in on it except for me, the idiot Spurs fan watching at home. The announcers knew, the Warriors knew, the fans definitely knew. Within two minutes it was as if a tsunami had engulfed the Spurs. Suddenly Aldridge was throwing up his usual bricks from mid-range, Mills couldn’t stop dribbling off his foot, and Steph Curry couldn’t miss. Go figure, the team that rolled Houston by 39 without Kawai, couldn’t help but get steamrolled without him today.

Perhaps, it was the way he went down that rendered the Spurs unable to recover. Perhaps, the game was rigged. More likely the Warriors are just that much better than anyone else. The Spurs were hitting on all cylinders and then, there was that brief flicker of opportunity for the Dubs, and there they went. Kicked that finely tuned machine into high gear and they were gone. I couldn’t help, but think back to game one of the playoffs against the Blazers, it seems like half a lifetime ago, but that is just how the NBA playoffs go. It was actually just under a month ago, the Blazers were hanging tough, McCollum and Lillard were having monster games, and then whoosh, it was over. Just like that. There were only two questions remaining after the game today.

How bad would the Warriors have lit up the Rockets?

And.

Can the Spurs and Kawai recover enough to make game two interesting.