Kawhi Leonard tallied 20 points as San Antonio dominated almost every facet of the game en route to a 114-97 win over Portland in game two of their NBA playoff series.
Tony Parker had 16 points and 10 assists, Manu Ginobili scored 16 points while Tim Duncan finished with 10 points and six rebounds for the Spurs who lead the series 2-0.
“We just executed on offence. We like to move the ball. Everybody played great and our bench was especially awesome,” said Parker.
Leonard shot a superb eight-of-nine from the field and made all four of his three point attempts for San Antonio who set the tone in Thursday’s game with a high-scoring first half.
“Kawhi is a young player,” said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. “He obviously looks confident. He’s always playing defence. He’s a good all-around player.”
Nicolas Batum paced the Trail Blazers with 21 points and nine rebounds, Damian Lillard tallied 19 points and LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds in the loss.
“We have to go back home, get both games and do the same thing,” said Batum. “There’s no panic.”
Game three is set for Saturday in Portland.
Parker said they have to maintain the same intensity in Portland that they had at home.
“We got a lot of experience on our team,” Parker said. “We just have to make sure we keep playing with the same defence over there.”
San Antonio led by just three, 29-26, at the end of the first but then turned up the heat on the Blazers in the second quarter.
They opened up a 17 point lead in the second by going on a 20-4 run.
Tiago Splitter capped the run with a layup that gave the Spurs a 49-32 lead with just over eight minutes left. Splitter finished the contest with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
“The onslaught at the beginning of the second quarter was the turning point of the game,” said Portland coach Terry Stotts.
Portland went on a 11-5 run in the opening 3:31 of the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to 10 points. Batum then hit a three pointer that made it an eight-point game with 5:37 left.
But Leonard and Ginobili nailed consecutive three pointers that pushed the Spurs’ lead back to 17 with under three minutes to go. San Antonio was never threatened the rest of the way.
Heat roll over Nets for 2-0 lead
LeBron James tallied 22 points and Chris Bosh had 18 points and six rebounds as the Miami Heat beat the Brooklyn Nets 94-82 in game two of their Eastern Conference playoff series.
The two-time defending NBA champs took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series with game three set for Saturday night in New York.
“We anticipated this would be a grind,” said Heat coach Erik Spoelstra. “We had to gut this one out.”
Dwyane Wade scored 14 points and Ray Allen scored all of his 13 points in the second half for Miami, who have won eight consecutive playoff contests dating back to game six of the 2013 championship series. Eight straight wins equals a franchise record, which they achieved twice before.
Veteran Ray Allen came off the bench to finish with 13 points and eight rebounds in the win in front of a packed crowd of more than 19,600 people at AmericanAirlines Arena. Allen said he has been gearing up all season to be able to contribute to a long playoff run.
“This is the part of the season we prepare our bodies for. This is when we start getting better,” he said. “I am built for this. At all times I am ready.”
Spoelstra said Allen helped spark the team.
“Ray was playing with a great motor. We were getting our best action with him running around,” he said.
Mirza Teletovic scored a team-high 20 points for Brooklyn on six-of-nine shooting from beyond the arc.
Shaun Livingston contributed 15 points, while Paul Pierce and Joe Johnson added 13 points each in the loss.
Kevin Garnett made his first field goal of the series early in the third quarter and finished with four points along with a game-high 12 boards for Brooklyn.
Miami swept the Charlotte Bobcats in four games in round one and now have beaten the Nets two straight.
This is the third playoff meeting between the two and Miami has won the first two series.