NBANCAA Basketball

What Happened Last Night: Golden State Blows Out New York, Gonzaga Locks Up No. 1 Seed

It’s championship week in college basketball, which means various teams you’ve ignored for the past few months will be playing exciting basketball games and possibly accidentally sneaking into the biggest dance of all dances. Oh and the NBA’s still going on, too.

Golden State Blew Out New York.

Even though Carmelo Anthony returned to action after missing three straight games due to a knee injury, he wasn’t the same player. Though none of the Knicks really had any pep in their step, as Steph Curry lit them up again for 26 points, David Lee nearly recorded a triple-double with 21 points, 10 rebounds and 8 assists and the Warriors ran away with this one 92-63. But this wasn’t a case of the Warriors playing particularly well; New York simply couldn’put the ball in the bucket, only managing 35 first half points and 27.4% from the floor and 18.5% from deep. J.R. Smith, who typically loses his cool when the Knicks go down big, lost his cool when the Knicks went down big and was ejected in the third quarter for a two-handed rake across Harrison Barnes’ face and neck. Carmelo Anthony, who had absolutely no lift throughout the game, scored 14 points on 4-15 shooting and clearly did not look the player he’s been all season.

But these are our Knicks this year, occasionally mailing in a game here or there for no conceivable reason. Come playoff time, we’ll see if they can clean it up. For Golden State, last night’s game showed what they can be when their shots are falling – Klay Thompson and Steph Curry can seriously light it up when feeling it, and last night was one of those games. But Andrew Bogut still hasn’t found his place within the fast-paced offense and seems to labor out there. Given that he’s missed most of the season due to injury, this isn’t a huge surprise.

Gonzaga finished off a perfect WCC season to secure an automatic bid.

Not that Gonzaga needed it, but with their 65-51 win over St. Mary’s in the West Coast Conference Final, they all but locked up a No. 1 seed for the NCAA Tournament and secured themselves a relaxing week off before things rev up after Selection Sunday. For St. Mary’s, the loss puts them squarely on the bubble; even though they finished the season at 27-6, their weak conference coupled with a lack of quality non-conference wins might allow doubt to creep in and keep them out of the Tournament altogether. For what it’s worth, though, it does seem like they’ll sneak in. As for how they’ll do once in the NCAA Tournament, that’s an entirely different story. We wouldn’t put too much stock in their chances, but stranger things have happened.

San Antonio handles OKC in possible Western Conference Finals preview.

You remember it last year: old man river San Antonio reels off 10 straight wins in the playoffs, including two against Oklahoma City. The series seemed like a wrap, comfortably fitting into the veterans-finally-have-their-cake local-boys-pay-their-dues narrative. But then Game 3, and 4 and 5 and 6, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook’s athleticism too daunting for San Antonio. The series seriously shifted gears, and the Spurs’ passing gave way to the Thunder’s pure speed and power. Last night, none of that mattered; San Antonio had their way with OKC, and Tiago Splitter (!) led the way with 21 points and 10 rebounds. Of course it’s hard to put stock in a single, isolated regular season game, and this one was in San Antonio, but if there’s anything last night proved, it’s that the Spurs will continue to linger as not-so-fringe contenders and have just as much a chance of sneaking through to face Miami in the NBA Finals. Uh, I mean, the Eastern Conference champ.