Game 2 is in the books, and it’s a 2-0 lead for the Knicks. Game 2 was close as the 2nd half started, but the Knicks started to pull away in the 3rd. Anthony Davis was awesome again, and the Spurs shot well at 50% from the field. Courtney Lee moved back into the starting lineup, and he didn’t do great against Harden, but no worse than Beverley did. Howard got the best of Embiid putting up a double-double on 5-7 shooting. Mike Conley did all he could, shooting 66% from the field and scoring 27 points.
The story once again though to me was the free throw disparity. The Knicks ended up getting 12 more points from the charity stripe and had 6 less fouls. The Knicks are in attack mode, and hoping to get the Twin Towers in foul trouble. Ingles regressed a little bit, and Harkless played better than him.
The Knicks bench was stellar tonight, with 15 points and 5 boards coming from Randolph, and Lance with 8 points and 4 assists. Those two guys combined outscored the entire Spurs bench. It’s beginning to look like the Spurs just might be outgunned here. They lost almost every phase of the game, fouls, turnovers, rebounds, assists, shooting… I don’t know what Leeroy is going to be able to tweak aside from getting some homecourt.
Joel Embiid needs to play better. Him coming back to the Spurs really gave them the advantage in the Western Conference Finals. He needs to put up 20 points at least for the Spurs to win. The problem is, there’s only so many post touches to go around on a team. I don’t know what other adjustments can be made here.
The Spurs have a big 3, the Knicks have a big 4, that’s the difference here. The Knicks just have one more all-star than the Spurs. I’m very disappointed in the Spurs bench so far this series. I thought the Spurs had the clear advantage on the bench, and they’ve scored 41 points in 2 games. I know that most of the minutes are going to the starters, but you must take advantage of the weaker Knicks bench when you can.
I hope the Spurs can win a couple of games at home to change this series, we shall see. Good Luck to both teams!
