Spurs at Thunder
San Antonio power forward LaMarcus Aldridge has been unstoppable in the
Western Conference semifinals but all that production has only provided
the Spurs with a split. Aldridge and San Antonio look to move ahead in
the series with the host Oklahoma City Thunder when the teams resume
play in Friday's Game 3.
Aldridge is 33-of-44 shooting in the two games while putting up 38 and 41 points as the Thunder were powerless to slow him down. "One man can't beat you, so we're fine with that," Oklahoma City backup guard Dion Waiters told reporters. "If they want to continue to get out of their offense and throw the ball down there to him, we're fine with that. One guy can't beat us, no matter how much he scores." The Thunder lost the first game of the series by 32 points before putting forth a much better effort in Monday's controversial 98-97 victory - a contest in which the NBA said there were five officiating calls missed in the final 13.5 seconds. "It's over now," Aldridge told reporters the following day. "You can't keep harping on it."
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, ESPN
ABOUT THE SPURS: Aldridge has scored nearly 36 percent of San Antonio's points in the series but he wasn't feeling all that great about his Game 2 performance due to the result. "It feels horrible, feels like it was wasted," Aldridge told reporters. "I've never been about trying to get points and not win - I always try to do things to win. If you win, it's totally a different feeling, but losing like that hurts." Small forward Kawhi Leonard is averaging 19.5 points in the series but had a disappointing showing on Monday with 14 points on 7-of-18 shooting.
ABOUT THE THUNDER: After being dominated in the opening game of the series, Oklahoma City started strong and carried the pace for most of Game 2. "Not only the pace, but we were playing smarter and better," power forward Serge Ibaka told reporters. "We were attacking in the fast break when we had to and when we didn't have an opportunity we slowed it down and ran a play." Point guard Russell Westbrook had 29 points and 10 assists in Game 2 after having just 14 points on 5-of-19 shooting in the opener, and small forward Kevin Durant also had a much-improved showing with 28 points on 11-of-19 shooting after being held to 16 on 6-of-15 shooting in Game 1.
BUZZER BEATERS
1. The Spurs shot just 42.6 percent from the field in Game 2 after shooting a blistering 60.7 percent in the opener.
2. San Antonio PG Tony Parker is averaging nine assists in the series but just 4.5 points on 4-of-12 shooting.
3. Oklahoma City C Steven Adams collected a playoff career-best 17 rebounds in Game 2 and is averaging 10.5 points and 13.5 rebounds.