The Golden State Warriors shot lights out at home while rolling to two lopsided NBA playoff victories over the San Antonio Spurs.
Can the Spurs throw some wrenches into the Warriors’ offense machinery with the series shifted to San Antonio? Can they get their own offense in gear on their home court?
Perhaps, but they won’t have coach Gregg Popovich on the bench as he mourns the death of his wife Erin after a lengthy illness. Spurs assistant coach Ettore Messina will run the show in Popovich’s absence.
“As you’d expect from Pop, he wants our focus to be about the game today, about this series, and that’s what today will be about,” Spurs general manager R.C. Buford said. “We’ll miss Erin a lot, and the focus of our team will be on supporting Pop. But we’ve got basketball to get back to.”
Elsewhere in the NBA playoffs Thursday night, the Miami Heat hope to build upon series-evening Game 2 victory at Philadelphia and the Pelicans return home to New Orleans to face the Trail Blazers after winning twice in Portland.
Come Friday, the Cavaliers will be on the road to play Game 3 against the Indiana Pacers with their series tied 1-1. And the Toronto Raptors and Boston Celtics will hope to roll on after winning twice at home against the Washington Wizards and Milwaukee Bucks respectively.
CAN THE SPURS WIN ONE FOR POPOVICH?
Given the Spurs’ affection for Gregg and Erin Popovich, expect a spirited performance from them in Game 3. The players will want to rally behind their bereaved coach.
“Very sad day,” Spurs guard Tony Parker told reporters Thursday morning. “Very emotional. It’s going to be very hard to play basketball today, but we have to do it . . . (Erin) was a great lady, always a mom. Everybody knows that because I arrived at 19. It’s very, very emotional.
“She was a great lady, very caring, showed a lot of love. She was unbelievable.”
As for the basketball stuff, the Warriors had no trouble filling baskets during the two games in Oakland while the Spurs sputtered. In the first two games the Spurs missed 14 of 18 uncontested three-pointers.
That allowed the Warriors to double team San Antonio star LaMarcus Aldridge with impunity. The Spurs are looking to shoot much, much better with the series shifted to San Antonio.
JOEL EMBIID STILL OUT?
As you would expect, 76ers star Joel Embiid has been campaigning to return to action for Game 3 against the Heat. And as you would expect, the team is handling his recovery from a fractured orbital bone with great care.
Philadelphia coach Brett Brown said Embiid practiced some Wednesday, so he wouldn’t completely rule him out.
“He’s getting there. To just let him go out there right now, it’s still all on the table,” Brown told reporters. “You guys know what I know. He did some contact (work), it’s progressing. I don’t feel like I can really share anything new.”
Embiid figures to play at some point in the series. He has been fitted for a new mask, which is most encouraging.
And given his productivity — 22.9 points, 11.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game during the NBA regular season — he will give the 76ers a massive boost.
PELICANS CONTINUE UPSET QUEST
By winning twice on the road, the surprising Pelicans, seeded sixth in the Western Conference, positioned themselves to upset the No. 3 seed Trail Blazers.
They are doing this without center DeMarcus Cousins, who is recovering from his Achilles tendon injury. Before getting hurt Cousins averaged 25.2 points, 12.9 rebounds and 5.4 assists in 48 games.
These he can only offer moral support.
So far the Pelicans are winning the backcourt match-up of Jrue Holiday vs. Damian Lillard. Holiday scored 33 points and dished nine assists in Game 2 while Lillard scored just 17 points on 7-for-18 shooting — and 1-for-7 shooting from three-point range.
Of the 20 NBA teams to lose the first two games of a best-of-seven series at home since 1984, 17 went on to lose the series. So the Trail Blazers are in big trouble.
“We’ve still got two games to win, so we’re not celebrating anything,” Pelicans coach Alvin Gentry told reporters.
