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Spurs trounce Trail Blazers for 2-0 lead

May 9, 2014 - 6:08 AM San Antonio, TX (SportsNetwork.com) - The San Antonio Spurs dominated every facet of the game in the opener of their Western Conference semifinal, then picked up right where they left off on Thursday.

Kawhi Leonard scored 20 points on 8-of-9 shooting, including 4-for-4 from beyond the arc, and the Spurs pounded the Portland Trail Blazers, 114-97, in Game 2.

"Kawhi is a young player," said Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. "He obviously looks confident. He's always playing defense. He's a good all-around player."

Tony Parker, who scored a game-high 33 points in Game 1, registered 16 points with 10 assists on Thursday as the Blazers did a much better job defending the crafty point guard.

"The whole team was playing great so I didn't want to force it," said Parker. "I was just trying to be patient."

Manu Ginobili also netted 16 points for San Antonio, which had another huge first half to help set up the lopsided victory.

Tim Duncan deposited 10 points with six rebounds, while fellow big man Tiago Splitter contributed 10 points and 10 rebounds for San Antonio.

Nicolas Batum paced Portland with 21 points to go along with nine rebounds, Damian Lillard tallied 19 points and LaMarcus Aldridge finished with 16 points and 10 rebounds.

"We have to go back home, get both games and do the same thing," said Batum. "There's no panic."

The Spurs led by 13 after the first quarter and 26 at halftime en route to a 116-92 victory in Game 1.

Portland didn't dig itself a big hole over the first 12 minutes in Game 2, but San Antonio gained separation in the second quarter.

The Spurs entered the second with a 29-26 advantage, but that margin quickly grew to 17 less than four minutes in courtesy of a 20-4 run.

Boris Diaw scored seven straight points for San Antonio to open the quarter and Danny Green made back-to-back 3-pointers before Marco Belinelli buried a 3.

Splitter capped the burst with a layup that staked the Spurs to a 49-32 edge with 8:11 left.

The Spurs stretched the lead to 19 late in the stanza, and Parker's jumper with 2.9 seconds left capped the scoring in the first half with San Antonio up 70-51.

"The onslaught at the beginning of the second quarter was the turning point of the game," said Portland coach Terry Stotts.

A Wesley Matthews jumper late in the third cut the deficit to 12, but the hosts entered the fourth with an 87-71 margin.

Portland went on a 11-5 run in the opening 3:31 of the fourth to cut the deficit to 10. Batum then hit a 3 that made it an eight-point game with 5:37 left.

Diaw answered with a 3 at the other end, then Leonard and Ginobili hit back- to-back treys that pushed the spread back to 17 with under three minutes to go and all but seal it for the Spurs.

Game 3 is set for Saturday in Portland.

Game Notes

San Antonio's bench outscored the Portland reserves, 50-19 ... The Spurs also outscored the Blazers, 21-14, in second chance points and, 17-10, on the fastbreak ... Will Barton scored 13 points on 5-of-5 shooting off the bench for Portland ... Mo Williams played just under nine minutes in the loss after aggravating a groin injury ... San Antonio shot 48-for-90 (53.3 percent) from the field ... There were seven ties and two lead changes, all of which came in the first quarter.