The San Antonio Spurs lost Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinals series to the Rockets by 27 points. Then they lost veteran point guard Tony Parker for the remainder of the playoffs. In overtime of Game 5, emerging superstar Kawhi Leonard was forced to the bench with an injury, one that would keep him out of Game 6. This sequence of events would be too much for almost any basketball team to overcome in the span of a seven-game series.
Unless that team is the San Antonio Spurs, of course, who on Thursday earned a Western Conference finals showdown with Golden State with a 39-point romp over Houston — on the road no less.