UPDATE: Game 1 of the first-round series between the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs will take place on Saturday at noon in Oracle Arena. Here’s the rest of the series schedule:
Full series schedule for Warriors-Spurs pic.twitter.com/kyYyHPNJrC
— Anthony Slater (@anthonyVslater) April 12, 2018
Original story below:
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The NBA regular season finally ended Wednesday night, and with it, the 16 Western and Eastern Conference seeds were finalized.
The Warriors were off, having played their last game of the regular season Tuesday against the Utah Jazz and clinched the number No. 2 seed. However, they did not yet know who they would face in the first round.
They do now.
The Warriors will face the No. 7-seeded San Antonio Spurs, adding significant intrigue to their first-round matchup. The Spurs fell into the 7-seed after losing 122-98 to the New Orleans Pelicans Wednesday night.
The series will be a rematch of the two teams’ clash in the 2017 Western Conference Finals. Though the Warriors swept the Spurs in that series, they trailed in Game 1 by as many as 25 points before Spurs superstar forward Kawhi Leonard injured himself after landing on Warriors center Zaza Pachulia’s foot following a jumpshot attempt. Leonard left the game immediately after sustaining the injury.
Pachulia’s closeout was closely scrutinized by players, coaches, fans, and media members in the following days, including Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich.
The Warriors went on a 18-0 run shortly after Leonard left the game and eventually won 113-111.
Leonard missed the remainder of the series, and the Spurs were unable to challenge the Warriors without him. He is expected to miss this year’s first round with a quadriceps injury.
Warriors’ starting point guard Stephen Curry is also expected to miss the series with the sprained MCL he suffered against the Atlanta Hawks on March 23.