Final
Spurs steamroll Blazers in Game 1 romp
May 7, 2014 - 4:46 AM San Antonio, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - The San Antonio Spurs rudely welcomed the Portland Trail Blazers to the second round of the postseason in their series opener on Tuesday.Tony Parker led six San Antonio players in double figures with 33 points and doled out nine assists as the seasoned veterans made a statement with a 116- 92 drubbing of the emerging yet still developing Blazers.
The Spurs did not need their stars down the stretch for the second straight game thanks to building a big lead that was never seriously threatened.
Marco Belinelli contributed 19 points off the bench, Tim Duncan finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds and Kawhi Leonard added 16 points and nine boards for San Antonio, which ousted the eighth-seeded Dallas Mavericks in Game 7 on Sunday with a similarly lopsided 23-point rout.
"We have to realize Game 1 is just Game 1. It's just one game," Parker said. "They will come out with a lot of energy (in Game 2) and we have to match that."
Game 2 is set for Thursday at AT&T Center.
LaMarcus Aldridge put up 32 points and 14 rebounds for Portland, while Damian Lillard, the hero in the series clincher against Houston on Friday, started slow and ended with 17 points on 6-of-15 shooting in the humbling loss.
Portland reached the Western Conference semifinals for the first time in 14 years when Lillard ended the Rockets' season with a dramatic buzzer-beating 3- pointer in Game 6.
On the new stage, however, the Blazers played like deer in headlights.
In their first six possessions, they missed six shots, had two turnovers and trailed 8-0 after Parker drove to the hoop for two.
An early timeout did little to help Portland, which shot 21.7 percent (5- of-23) from the field in the opening frame and nearly got outscored by Parker himself, with the All-Star point guard's 13-point quarter leading the way to a 29-16 spread.
"They did what championships teams do. They set the tone early," Aldridge said of the Spurs. "They let us know how it's going to be."
Parker's foul-line jumper gave the Spurs a 20-point lead less than six minutes into the second quarter, and an 8-0 run a little later, capped by Leonard's one-handed leaner in the lane, extended the margin to 58-32.
Belinelli ended the scoring in a one-sided half with his third 3-pointer, and the Spurs, after making 60 percent of their shots (27-of-45), entered halftime with an sizeable 65-39 cushion.
The difference swelled to 29 points in the third quarter, which ended with Aron Baynes' emphatic putback slam.
Portland did not make its first 3-pointer until the first minute of the fourth, and prior to Will Barton's make, the Spurs were comfortably ahead, 92-65, and cruised from there.
Game Notes
Duncan posted his 152nd postseason double-double, second all-time in NBA history behind Magic Johnson's 157 ... San Antonio's bench accounted for 50 points to 18 for the Blazers' reserves ... Manu Ginobili went 0-for-6 from the field for the Spurs, who received 10 points each from Baynes and Patty Mills ... Robin Lopez totaled 10 points and 11 rebounds for Portland ... San Antonio shot 50.6 percent overall, while the Blazers made 37.8 percent of their shots ... Portland, which committed 20 turnovers to just nine assists, had posted a 14-7 record against San Antonio the past five regular seasons, the best record in the NBA against the Spurs in that time.
May 7 12:09 AM- PORTLAND: 65
SAN ANTONIO: 90
End of 3rd
May 6 11:35 PM - PORTLAND: 39
SAN ANTONIO: 65
Halftime
May 6 10:43 PM - PORTLAND: 16
SAN ANTONIO: 29
End of 1st
May 6 10:11 PM - PORTLAND: 0
SAN ANTONIO: 0
1st Quarter - 11:42
May 6 9:42 PM
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