Spurs Topple Warriors In Double OT

This game should have ended in regulation. 

Stephen Curry played the longest game of his career, logging 57 minutes, and it showed in both overtime sessions. Though he ended the game with 44 points on 18-35 shooting, Warriors coach Mark Jackson had to call on his veteran sixth man Jarret Jack to score in overtime. Jack responded to the pressure by putting the team on his back, but the Spurs were too hot.

After Tim Duncan retreated to the locker room from showing flu-like symptoms, San Antonio went on a remarkable run in the fourth. Tony Parker, Danny Green and Kawhi Leonard came up clutch in both the fourth and each overtime but it was Manu Ginobili's heroic three pointer with seconds left on the clock that sealed the San Antonio win. Ginobili didn't exactly have a great game: basically air balling the previous game winning shot, deciding to shoot a deep three out of no where. But all will be forgotten after that go-ahead dagger. 

There were two integral players to this game: Klay Thompson and Kawhi Leonard.

Thompson is a big guard and presents such a mismatch on both ends of the floor when the smaller Tony Parker is guarding him. Parker didn't come alive until Thompson fouled out late in the fourth and that's when San Antonio made their run. Secondly, once Spurs coach Gregg Popovich decided to put Leonard, his best defensive swingman, on Steph Curry, Curry couldn't get a good shot off the rest of the game. Granted, Curry was tired but Leonard may have been a huge reason why. Leonard was too strong, too quick, and too long for Curry to shoot over or drive by and it wore Curry down big time. Thompson, Curry's three-point sidekick, should have taken over the overtimes with Leonard not guarding him and rained down threes. But that didn't happen. Thompson was stuck on the bench and the Spurs came back in one of the most thrilling games of the year. 

Not only did this show that the veteran savvy Spurs still have a few tricks up their sleeve, but it was a good learning experience for the Warriors even though they really should have won. Still, they are a young, inexperienced team and that was clearly shown when they couldn't execute the proper defensive switches at the end of the game when it really mattered. 

If the Warriors won this I would have guessed Spurs in seven, but the Warriors supreme confidence that led them into the second round must be fleeting after this heartbreaking loss.