Without Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker, the Spurs just don’t have enough to compete with the 67-win Warriors. Golden State raced to a 72-44 halftime lead and doubled up San Antonio midway through the second quarter.
There’s not a whole lot to talk about in a scenario like that, so ESPN color commentators Mark Jackson and Jeff Van Gundy turned the conversation to dessert, specifically some hard feelings over a single brownie at a dinner for two.
As play-by-play man Mike Breen noted, it’s not a good sign if that’s where the broadcast turned still several minutes before halftime. By the end of the half, Van Gundy was making fun of ways Breen would attempt to keep viewers engaged in the blowout.
“70-42, but there’s still a half to play.” Yawn.
The Warriors are well on their way to a 2-0 lead over the Spurs. Leonard, who aggravated an ankle injury in Game 1 on a play Spurs coach Gregg Popovich called “dangerous” and “unsportsmanlike,” could return for Game 3 on Saturday. But that’s still up in the air. Parker is done for the season with a ruptured quadriceps tendon. Even with Leonard, there’s no guarantee San Antonio makes this series much more interesting as the Warriors have been dominating this year’s playoffs — and generally been on a tear since mid-March.
The Cavs have also been dominating in the East, and if their conference finals series against the Celtics is as uneventful as many people expect, that could lead to a quick, unremarkable path into the NBA Finals all around.
Unlikely but if Cavs and Warriors remain undefeated through conference finals, that’s a whole lot of game inventory lost for TNT and ESPN
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) May 17, 2017
TNT and ESPN are probably prepared for this sort of scenario considering the Warriors and Cavs’ dominance is no secret. But you know they’d still like to see the Spurs and Celtics steal a couple of games each.
[ESPN]
