Spurs, Kawhi Leonard Blow Out Rockets 121-96 to Even Series at 1-1
The San Antonio Spurs cruised past the Houston Rockets 121-96 on Wednesday night at AT&T Center to knot their Western Conference Semifinals series at one game apiece.
Two days after they were throttled by 27 points in a Game 1 rout, the Spurs responded with an efficient and composed performance that was anchored by the two-way excellence of Kawhi Leonard.
Far and away the most impactful player on the floor in Game 2, Leonard paced all Spurs scorers with 34 points (13-of-16 shooting) to go with a team-high eight assists and seven rebounds in an MVP-caliber performance that caught the attention of SB Nation's Mike Prada:
Leonard also returned to his role as a defensive disruptor after the Rockets shredded the Spurs from every angle in Game 1 as he helped limit James Harden to 13 points on 3-of-17 shooting, including 2-of-9 from three.
However, Harden still succeeded in frustrating the Spurs and head coach Gregg Popovich when he drew a questionable three-point shooting foul toward the end of the third quarter:
The Spurs couldn't be too mad, though, considering supplementary contributors such as Tony Parker, Danny Green, LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol were all in fine form after they underwhelmed throughout Game 1:
| Game 1 | 11 PTS, 3 AST, 3/9 FG | 4 PTS, 6 REB, 2/7 FG | 8 PTS, 2 REB, 3/10 FG | 6 PTS, 6 REB |
| Game 2 | 18 PTS, 4 AST, 8/13 FG | 15 PTS, 8 REB, 6/14 FG | 12 PTS, 3 REB, 5/7 FG | 6 PTS, 13 REB, 4 BLK |
Parker was particularly impressive in 25 minutes, as he racked up 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting and joined some exclusive company, according to NBA.com on Twitter:
Unfortunately, the French floor general's night was cut short after he was carried off the floor in the fourth quarter with an apparent left knee injury:
Gasol, meanwhile, shone after he was thrown into the fire and started at center in place of David Lee.
Although he wasn't particularly potent in the scoring column, Gasol made his presence felt with a game-high 13 rebounds and four blocks—one of which NBA.com documented:
The Rockets, to their credit, kept things close and cut the Spurs' deficit to four with about 2:48 remaining in the third quarter.
But with the Spurs hounding the Rockets on the perimeter, limiting them to 11-of-34 shooting from three, the flow of head coach Mike D'Antoni's impeccably spaced offense was discombobulated.
If there's a silver lining for the Rockets, it's that they were able to steal home-court advantage from the Spurs by virtue of their emphatic Game 1 win.
Now Houston will attempt to get back on the winning track as the series shifts to Houston for Game 3, which is scheduled to get underway at 9:30 p.m. ET (ESPN) at the Toyota Center on Friday night.
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