SAN ANTONIO — Patty Mills had 16 points, Kawhi Leonard added 13 and the San Antonio Spurs never trailed in beating the Memphis Grizzlies 94-68 on Tuesday night to sweep the first two games of the first-round series in imposing fashion.
LaMarcus Aldridge had 10 points and eight rebounds in 26 minutes. Aldridge sat out the entire fourth quarter along with Leonard and Tony Parker while Tim Duncan and Danny Green made brief appearances.
If history and Memphis’ current state are any indication, the Grizzlies’ prospects don’t look good heading into a home game Friday night.
San Antonio’s suffocating defense held Memphis to franchise lows in total points and points in a quarter 12 years to the day after establishing those records on its way to a series sweep.
Tony Allen led Memphis with 12 points and Zach Randolph had 11 points and 12 rebounds.
After matching a franchise low with a 13-point first quarter in Game 1, the Grizzlies lowered that mark by tying a franchise low for any quarter with 11 points in Tuesday’s opening period.
The Grizzlies continued to struggle to find consistency on offense without injured starters Marc Gasol and Mike Conley.
Memphis’ fortunes didn’t improve much after that dreadful start.
The Grizzlies went 3 1/2 minutes without scoring beginning midway through the second quarter and then failed to score in the first 2 1/2 minutes of the second half.
Randolph’s struggles continued. He opened the game shooting 1 for 5 and Aldridge hit two mid-range jumpers against him.
Leonard shot 4 for 10 against Matt Barnes’ gritty defense. Leonard twice ran by Barnes along the baseline for a one-handed dunk. Leonard simply put his head down and ran by Barnes for a dunk in the third quarter.
Atlanta 89, Boston 72
ATLANTA — The Hawks held Boston to the lowest-scoring first quarter in the playoffs since the NBA went to the shot clock, building a 21-point lead and holding on despite an ugly shooting performance of their own for a victory Tuesday night, giving Atlanta a 2-0 lead in the opening-round series.
Al Horford and Kyle Korver led Atlanta with 17 points apiece, but this game was essentially decided in the first 12 minutes.
Game 3 is Friday night in Boston.