Spurs fall to Pelicans in season finale, setting up playoff date with Warriors

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Photo courtesy: New Orleans Pelicans/NBA

Three years ago, the San Antonio Spurs had a chance to clinch the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference with a victory in New Orleans. They would fall to the Pelicans and fall to the six seed, setting up a date with the third-seeded LA Clippers, who would beat them in seven games in the first round.

The Spurs experienced deja vu on Wednesday as they suffered a 122-98 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans (48-34) at the Smoothie King Center in the regular season finale for both teams.

The loss officially locked San Antonio into the seventh seed in the Western Conference, setting up a date with the second-seeded, defending champions, the Golden State Warriors.

The Warriors are currently the odds favorites, via Genting bet, to win the series.

Here is what went good and bad for the Spurs, as well as three standout players: LaMarcus Aldridge, Dejounte Murray, and Tony Parker.

The Good:

  • To be honest, not much good came out of Wednesday’s blow out defeat in New Orleans. Just another game where young guys like Forbes and Murray gained valuable experience.

The Bad:

  • San Antonio’s road struggles continued as they dropped their eighth straight away from the AT&T Center. The Spurs’ last win on the road came on Feb. 25 in Cleveland and overall, the Silver and Black are just 2-11 in their last 13 road contests.
  • The Spurs finished the regular season with a 14-27 road record and will have to take on the defending champs without home court advantage. Not good.
  • Patty Mills really struggled, going scoreless and went 0-for-4 from the field and missed all his 3-point attempts.

Three Standout Players:

    Tony Parker: The Spurs struggled from all aspects of the court on Wednesday but Tony Parker was one of the very few bright spots off the bench for San Antonio.

Parker finished with 11 points on 50 percent shooting from the floor. He scored in double digits for the first time in nearly 17 games, so let’s hope that this is one of those games that can get him going with the NBA Playoffs starting this weekend.

     LaMarcus Aldridge: The Spurs’ forward did not have the best game but then again none of the team did. Aldridge still did his best to keep the Silver and Black in the game.

Aldridge finished with 11 points and five rebounds on 41 percent shooting from the floor. He struggled with the length of Pelicans’ big man Anthony Davis and in the paint against Nikola Mirotic. He still managed to reach double figures.

Dejounte Murray     Dejounte Murray: The young second yeard guard struggled as Pop went with veteran Tony Parker a little more than usual in the loss on Wednesday.

Murray still finished with 11 points and went a perfect 5-for-5 from the free throw line. He struggled as well shooting just 30 percent from the field. It is safe to say that the NBA Playoffs will test how much growth Murray has had in year two.

UP NEXT:

The Spurs will return to the court on Saturday when they travel to Oakland to face Kevin Durant and the Golden State Warriors at Oracle Arena. Tip-off is set for 2 p.m. CDT.

The full schedule for Spurs-Warriors series complete with TV stations and times is listed below:

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