The San Antonio Spurs won another game over the Memphis Grizzlies at home to take 2-0 lead in the series. Once again, Kawhi Leonard was spectacular for the Spurs with a playoff career-high 37 points, while shooting 9 of 14 from the field and 19 of 19 from the free throw line. He also grabbed 11 rebounds in 40 minutes on the floor.
Tony Parker added 15 points in just 23 minutes, as he took 14 shots. Danny Green had 12 points, all of them coming from the three point line, while LaMarcus Aldridge added 11 points in 41 minutes on the floor.
A low scoring game
It was all about the Spurs in the first half, as they outscored the Grizzlies 56-37 in the first two quarters. Memphis responded in the third quarter with a 28-19 run and even cut the lead to five points in the final quarter, but they didn't have enough energy to come closer than that.
The Spurs won it 96-82. Mike Conley was a scoring leader for the visitors with 24 points and 8 assists, while Zach Randolph added a double-double off the bench, with 18 points and ten rebounds. Both Marc Gasol and Vince Carter finished the game with 12 points. Coach David Fizdale mixed up his starting lineup, as rookie Wayne Selden started the game, but played only 15 minutes. JaMychal Green also played only 15 minutes as a starter, while Zach Randolph spent 35 minutes on the floor, coming off the bench.
Dave Fizdale's press conference
Grizzlies coach Dave Fizdale was furious at the officials after the game. He thinks that the officials didn't do a good job and they helped San Antonio Spurs with a big number of free throws.
He told reporters, "It's really unfortunate that I have a guy in my team like Mike Conley, who has zero technical fouls in his career and just cannot get the proper respect from the officials.
That was a poorly officiated game. Randolph had zero free throws, but somehow Kawhi Leonard shot 19 free throws. Overall, we shot 35 times in the paint and we had 15 free throws. They shot 18 times in the paint and had 32 free throws. Explain that! We don't have any respect and I'm not going to let them treat us that way. Poppovich has got the pedigree and I'm just a rookie coach, but they are not going to rook us, that's so unprofessional.
Take that for data!“
It would be very interesting to see how the officials will respond to Fizdale's words in the third game at the FedEx Arena.
The next game is on the schedule for Thursday at 9:30 pm when the series moves to Memphis.
