Game 2 of Western Conference first-round matchup between the San Antonio Spurs and the Memphis Grizzlies was played on Monday night. It was a fully packed AT&T Center with 18 thousand fans ready to support their Spurs in Game 2 of this first-round playoff series. Spurs won Game 1 comfortably on Saturday night 111-82 and were looking to repeat that performance again on Monday. Memphis was shorthanded in this one since they were playing without Tony Allen and Chandler Parsons who were out due to injuries.
Easy win for the Spurs
Greg Popovich's squad wanted to set the tone early and so they did.
They started off the game well and took a 13-point lead after the first quarter. They held Memphis to just 16 points in the opening period as the score was 29-16 after the first 12 minutes. Spurs saw that lead become bigger as they played great defense in that first half allowing only 37 points. It was 56-37 at halftime.
San Antonio's biggest lead was 26 points (56-30) in that second quarter. The Grizzlies managed to cut it down to 10 points after the third quarter (75-65) but it wasn't enough. Spurs' great defense propelled them to a wire-to-wire win in this one. The final score was 96-82 for San Antonio team that now holds a comfortable 2-0 series lead. They outrebounded the Grizzlies 39-35 on Monday night and held them to just 37.8% shooting from the field.
The Spurs were nearly perfect from the free-throw line in this one as they shot 31-32. This was their 10th consecutive postseason win over Memphis.
Kawhi Leonard's special performance
Five Spurs players finished in double-digit scoring on Monday. Kawhi Leonard led them with a new playoff career-high 37 points. He added 11 rebounds and was perfect from the free-throw line (19-19).
He is the first player with that many makes and no misses since Dirk Nowitzki’s 24-24 game in 2011. Leonard is 28-of-28 from the line so far in the series. Tony Parker added 15 points and three assists for the Spurs, while Danny Green had 12 points.
Mike Conley was the leading scorer for the Grizzlies on Monday night. He scored 24 points and added eight assists.
Conley was 4-8 from the three-point land. Zach Randolph added 18 points and 10 rebounds for Memphis. This was his 30th postseason double-double, the seventh-most among active players in the league. Marc Gasol chipped in with 12 points and six rebounds but it wasn't enough.
Game 3 will be played on Thursday night in Memphis.
