Warriors small forward Andre Iguodala has been ruled out for Game 2 against the Spurs Tuesday night due to left knee soreness, reports Marc J. Spears of ESPN.com. An MRI performed Monday revealed no structural damage, but the Warriors continue to be cautious with the veteran as they have done all season.
Iguodala will not be the only former NBA Finals MVP to be sidelined for the game. Spurs leading scorer Kawhi Leonard will also miss the contest. The Warriors lead the series 1-0.
Kawhi Leonard‘s MRI revealed no structural damage, Michael C. Wright of ESPN.com tweets. Leonard injured his left ankle twice in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Sunday, including a controversial play in which Warriors center Zaza Pachulia moved into his landing space after Leonard released a jump shot. Spurs coach Gregg Popovich ripped Pachulia on Monday for what Popovich felt was a reckless closeout. Leonard is expected to miss Game 2.
While Kawhi Leonard said on Sunday night that he didn’t believe Zaza Pachulia‘s play that re-injured Leonard’s ankle was a dirty one, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich disagreed today with that assessment. Speaking to reporters, Popovich was critical of the play, and confirmed that the team expects Leonard to miss Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals due to his ankle injury (Twitter links via Michael C. Wright of ESPN.com).
Calling Pachulia’s play on Leonard a “totally unnatural closeout,” Popovich also referenced the big man’s history of unsportsmanlike plays, particularly against the Spurs, including an elbow on Patty Mills and an arm-bar on Leonard (video link).
“The two-step lead with your foot closeout is not appropriate,” Popovich said, per Anthony Slater of The Bay Area News Group. “It’s dangerous, it’s unsportsmanlike, it’s just not what anybody does to anybody else. This particular individual has a history with that kind of action.”
While Popovich didn’t go so far as to say that Pachulia was intentionally attempting to injure Leonard on Sunday, the Spurs coach suggested that intent didn’t really matter, likening it to unintentionally killing someone while texting and driving (video links via Jabari Young of The San Antonio Express-News).
The Spurs have yet to announce an official diagnosis or recovery timetable for Leonard, but assuming he does sit out Game 2, he’d have a few days to prepare for Game 3. Due to a scheduling quirk, the Spurs and Warriors will have three days off after Game 2, with the series not resuming until Saturday.
6:07pm: Team sources inform Marc Spears of ESPN that Leonard will undergo an MRI on his left ankle tonight.
5:50pm: Leonard’s ankle “doesn’t look good,” Marc Spears of ESPN tweets, adding, however, that Leonard hasn’t ruled out playing in Game 2 on Tuesday.
5:38pm: ESPN’s Michael C. Wright reports that Leonard walked to the training room without a limp and with nothing on his ankle. Wright tweets that they’re taping the ankle now. Jabari Young of the San Antonio Express-News tweets that Leonard is limping “a bit.”
5:30pm: The Spurs watched a 25-point lead fade away against the Warriors in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals but their biggest loss may be of a different nature. As Sam Amick of USA Today outlines, with 7:55 remaining in the third quarter, Kawhi Leonard appeared to re-aggravate his injured left ankle.
Minutes into the second half, Leonard pulled up for a three in the corner, defended by Zaza Pachulia. At that point Pachulia closed out hard and Leonard landed on the big man’s extended foot.
The injury is particularly concerning for two reasons, the obvious one being that the superstar MVP candidate missed the remainder of the game, another being that this is the same ankle Leonard hurt in Game 5 of San Antonio’s previous series.
Last week Leonard sat out Game 6 against the Rockets and it appears the forward could miss time here as well, although no official declarations have been made by the team.
Tony Jones of the Salt Lake Tribune noted that if the Spurs rest Leonard for Game 2 on the road, he’ll have six days of recovery prior to the series shifting back to San Antonio for Game 3.
As details about Leonard’s status come in, we’ll update this post.
The 2016/17 campaign brought a changing of the guard on the Spurs. Tony Parker may have started 63 games for the club, but Patty Mills earned the distinction of best point guard on the team this season with his accurate 3-point stroke and his ability to create offense for his teammates.
How long Mills reigns with that unofficial title depends on the front office. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and he’ll have no shortage of suitors once his camp begins to take meetings.
Coach Gregg Popovich doesn’t want to make a big deal of Mills’ play. “I don’t want to talk too much about Patty Mills because the more good things I say, the more we’re going to have to pay him,” Pop said (via Michael Lee of The Vertical).
The Spurs have roughly $73MM on the books for the 2017/18 campaign against a projected $101MM salary cap. The team could offer Mills a sizable deal, but that would preclude them from making a big splash in free agency.
What do you think? What kind of deal should the Spurs offer Mills and if he decides to go elsewhere, which rival team would make a good fit for the Australian point guard?
Let us know what you think in the comment section below. We look forward to what you have to say!
Gregg Popovich says that small forward Kawhi Leonard will play for the Spurs in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals series against the Warriors on Sunday, reports Melissa Rohlin of MySA.com.
As Rohlin tweets, Leonard was a full participant in Saturday’s practice. After rolling his ankle in Game 5 of the Spurs’ series against the Rockets, the Spurs’ star missed the series’ decisive Game 6, which the Spurs won 114-75.
As the Warriors and Spurs prepare to kickoff the Western Conference Finals tomorrow night, San Antonio expects to have Kawhi Leonard in the starting lineup, a source tells ESPN’s Michael C. Wright.
Leonard injured his left ankle on Tuesday and sat out the Spurs’ 39-point decimation of the Rockets in Game 6 on Thursday, which clinched the series win. Jonathon Simmons replaced Leonard and promptly added 18 points in the rout. Now, the Spurs will look to having their superstar player back in the lineup, hoping to utilize his defensive prowess to tame at least one of the Warriors’ three superstars.
Kawhi Leonard will sit out tonight’s Game 6 against the Rockets with knee and ankle injuries, according to Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report (Twitter link). If the Spurs fall tonight, they will play against Houston in Game 7 on Sunday.
Gregg Popovich made the decision to sit Leonard and he was asked if the MVP candidate fought him on the matter, as Tim Bontemps of The Washington Post tweets. Popovich responded with a Popovichian line: “He’d rather play.”
Jonathon Simmons, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, will start in Leonard’s spot. It’s a great opportunity for Simmons to increase his market value in free agency. The 27-year-old Houston native has seen 16.4 minutes per game this postseason and he’s averaging 7.9 points per game while shooting 45.5% from the field.