Trans. May 17 3:38 ET (May 17 3:38 ET ) SAN ANTONIO (AP) -- Danny Green failed to step up quickly enough on a pick, allowing Golden State's Stephen Curry to hit an open 3-pointer. The roar of the Oracle Arena crowd Thursday night was nothing compared to Tony Parker's tirade at Green over the defensive lapse.
The San Antonio Spurs might have had the best highlights out of Sunday. For one, Manu Ginobili just broke Harrison Barnes‘ ankles on a potential game winner with 20 seconds left in the fourth quarter, only to miss the shot. Then there was this impressive putback dunk by Danny Green. That guy’s an athlete. Not…
OAKLAND, Calif. - Danny Green and Tony Parker hit consecutive 3-pointers to stop a Golden State run and Manu Ginobili capped a big second half with a layup with 1:57 to go as the San Antonio Spurs, leading most of the way, held off the Warriors 102-92 Friday night to take a 2-1 lead in the best-of-7 Western Conference semifinals.
After the San Antonio Spurs escaped with a thrilling, final-possession, double-overtime Game 1 win over the Golden State Warriors on Monday night, there's been one question on all of our minds: What the heck are the Spurs going to do differently to stop Stephen Curry, who went Human Torch for 44 points on 18 for 35 shooting against a very good Spurs defense that finished tied for third in the league in defensive efficiency this season.
"We've got to do a better job with him," Spurs legend Tim Duncan said, according to ESPN.com's J.A. Adande . (Thanks for the inside scoop, Tim.)
"We'd like to figure out how to hold Curry below 40," Popovich said, according to Adande. "We've got about 10 phone calls out to people asking for suggestions. He's unbelievable. Unbelievable."
And yet, the answer out of San Antonio's Wednesday shootaround didn't sound like a sweeping, revolutionary change.
There'll be some "new wrinkles," according to San Antonio Express-News beat stalwart Jeff McDonald , but for the most part, the second verse will be the same as the first, as Spurs guard Danny Green said:
“We’ve come up with more questions, a couple solutions,” Green said. “We won’t know if they work until tonight.”
Asked if he believed the impetus behind Curry’s big night was the guard simply hitting tough shots or the Spurs’ defensive breakdowns, Green answered, “A little bit of both.”
“Once a guy like that gets a rhythm, regardless of how tough the shot is, there’s a pretty good chance of it going in. We want to do a better job of keeping him out of rhythm.”
It'll be very interesting to see what the "wrinkles" that Gregg Popovich and his coaching staff have developed look like. In re-watching Game 1 possession by possession to take a closer look at how the Spurs defended Curry, it didn't seem like any one on-ball defender — primarily starting point guard Tony Parker, who's expected to get the call once again, but also backup Cory Joseph, shooting guard Green and small forward Kawhi Leonard — got particularly roasted. Instead, it looked more like A) the Golden State offense took advantage of various one-on-one mismatches away from Curry and B) Curry can be really, really, ridiculously, terrifyingly good.
SAN ANTONIO -- With a litany of stars sitting out for both teams, Danny Green and Gary Neal supplied San Antonio with a combined for 36 points, leading the Spurs to a 98-84 victory over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday night at AT&T Center.
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