Leonard sets new personal record.
The defending Western Conference Champions didn’t have a chance last night no matter that it was their home court season opener San Antonio Spurs star and reigning Defensive Player of the Year showed that his offense has taken yet another leap forward. Leonard finished the game with 35 points on 10 of 21 shooting, 15-15 from the charity stripe, five rebounds, five steals, three assists with two turnovers in 32-minutes.
“We got punched in the mouth,” Draymond Green said. “I don’t know if it was quite a bad thing for us.”
“If there was an outcome I wasn’t expecting, it was this one,” the SpursManu Ginobili said. “A 29-point lead against a team like them? I truly didn’t expect it.”
And yet, one game does not make a season.
The Warriors had trouble with (and will continue to) the Spurs Bigs and they had no answer for the Aldridge/Gasol/Leonard points in the paint.
“No, I didn’t see losing by 29 points,” Warriors Head Coach Steve Kerr said. “It’s going to be an ugly tape to watch. … I think our
guys were embarrassed tonight. I know I was.”
“It’s a nice little slap in the face,” Stephen Curry said. “First game you want to come out and protect your home court and have the energy of the home opener live throughout the game. We didn’t do anything to let that happen.”
Leonard also had help from his 2nd year Spur LaMarcus Aldridge, who looked very comfortable on the floor with and without new center Pau Gasol. Aldridge finished the game with 26 points, 14 rebounds and was 5-6 from the line. Jonathan Simmons, who nearly stole the show, came off the bench to score 20 points on 8-14 shooting which also included a monster block on Steph Curry and a emphatic slam dunk in the closing seconds of the game. Simmons, Ginobili and Patty Mills led the bench scoring 54-16 over the warriors.
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