SAN ANTONIO -- As the final seconds of the first quarter ticked down to zero, Patty Mills lined up a wide-open three-pointer from the left corner. The San Antonio Spurs had already tied an NBA playoff record for points in a quarter with 43, leading by 23 against the Oklahoma City Thunder. Yet when Mills' three clanked off the rim, there was still an audible sigh of disappointment from Spurs fans inside the AT&T Center. They weren't here just to see their team win. They expected dominance.
San Antonio's 124-92 win Saturday was a complete evisceration of the Thunder. The Spurs had 53 points less than 15 minutes into the game, and they followed up a record-setting first quarter by winning the second frame, 30-20. For good measure, they won the third quarter too, blowing their lead out past 40 points for the first time in the playoffs since Gregg Popovich took over, barely even letting up in the fourth quarter when both teams emptied benches. Leave it to the Spurs to keep their postgame message as direct and uniformed as they did.
"We had a great night and they had one of their bad nights," said Popovich, always brusque, even after a 32-point playoff win.
"It's only one game," said LaMarcus Aldridge, who led the way with 38 points. "Those guys are very talented and they'll come out even better next game."
"It's one game," Danny Green said. "It's not a momentum thing. Each game is different and each game is a playoff series in its own, so it's not like it's going to carry over to next game."
The strongest praise came from Tim Duncan, who conceded that the win showcased "an amazing all-around effort." That felt like the equivalent of another team singing their own praises from a megaphone. As disciplined on the court as they are off, San Antonio's message was clear: Game 1 is just one game. But damn, what a game to open this second-round series.
Aldridge's performance in particular was the culmination of everything the Spurs expected when they signed him last summer. His absurd 17-of-23 shooting led the way for the Spurs, who finished just shy of 61 percent from the field and shot exactly 60 percent from behind the three-point line. Oklahoma City's pick-and-roll defense against San Antonio crumpled into a sad parade of easy baskets. Swarm the ball handler, and Aldridge wasn't missing from 18 feet. Play it straight, and the Spurs' guards easily infiltrated the paint. Help from the weak side, and there was always a shooter mercilessly knocking down open looks even late into the fourth quarter.
This game felt like Aldridge's final step in his adjustment to the Spurs. They knew he would get here eventually, even when he messed up the spacing or blew a defensive assignment during a meaningless regular season contest. Now San Antonio is seeing him at his fullest.
"I don't know the exact date, but it was a progression," Popovich said of Alridge's integration. "It was just steady improvement in recognition as the year went along."
Even after his season-high scoring night, Aldridge still declined to say he was fully adjusted.
"It goes back and forth," Aldridge said. "Some games I feel great and some games I still feel like I'm trying to learn my spacing here. Tonight was one of those good nights."
On one of those good nights, Aldridge will happily lead the way. If not, there's an entire team around him ready to absorb his mistakes wherever he falls short. Kawhi Leonard was exactly what the Spurs have come to expect from him -- 25 points on 10-of-13 shooting with five rebounds and five assists -- and Green missed just one of his seven shots en route to an 18-point night.
The shared responsibility of the defense shined cumulatively even more. Leonard matched Russell Westbrook for Oklahoma City for most of the game, guarding him for 25 of the 34 first half possessions when Leonard was in the game. In those 25 possessions, the Thunder scored only 14 points. Against a set San Antonio defense with no opportunities to run off missed shots, Oklahoma City was dead in the water. It was a carnivalesque pop-a-shot, but with five NBA athletes defending in between.
On both sides, in virtually every matchup, the Spurs thoroughly dominated Game 1. There are franchises still waiting for a game like this, franchises that couldn't help extol how well they played after a playoff win like this. In San Antonio, from the team and their fans, this is what they expect, and their postgame message reflects that.
The last question asked to Danny Green, a query about what it felt like to see so many shots go in for his team, would have been a perfect chance for him to give a single innocuous response about the Spurs' excellence. Even then, Green deferred, already looking ahead.
"We just hope it keeps going that way."
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