After dispatching the Dallas Mavericks in seven games to escape Round One, the 2014 Spurs’ playoff run continued against the strong Portland Trail Blazers team that had several players who had long NBA careers, including four who are still active ten years later in Damian Lillard, Nicolas Batum, Robin Lopez, and CJ McCollum. Their best player was LaMarcus Aldridge, who had an outstanding 17-year career, including six years with the Spurs.

The Blazers finished the regular season at 54-28 with a better point differential than every team in the Eastern Conference. They were also the only team in the West to make it out of the first round in less than seven games, beating the Rockets in six. As a result, they had twice as much rest going into the first game than the Spurs, who had just 48 hours to recover after winning Game Seven against the Mavs. All in all, this series promised to be a barn-burner. And it was — except the Spurs were the fire, and the Blazers were the barn.

After the Spurs crushed the Mavs in Game Seven by running up a huge first half lead, they carried over that dominant play into the first game against the Blazers. I don’t often do this, but here are the quarter by quarter scores for Game One:

The Spurs finished the half up by 26 points at 65–39, holding the Blazers to 33% shooting overall, including 0-5 from three. In contrast, the Spurs shot 60% from the floor, 5 for 7 from three, including a perfect 3 for 3 from Marco Belinelli. The Spurs missed only 18 shots in the first half and got 8 of those back on offensive boards. They coasted from there, with Tony Parker scoring 33 points with 9 assists. For the game, the Spurs bench went 10 for 14 overall and 4 for 4 from three.

Surely this strong Blazers squad would bounce back in Game Two. First of all, don’t call me Shirley, and secondly, no, the Blazers did not learn that they needed to show up early to have a chance. Once again, this is the box for Game Two.

Although not as bad as Game One, the Blazers were down 19 at halftime, 70-51. By the way, unlike today, teams just didn’t score 70 points in a half in 2013-14 — but the Spurs did, this time shooting 58% for the half, including 7 for 10 from three. At halftime, Kawhi Leonard had 14 points on 7 shots, including 2 for 2 from three. Tiago Splitter had 8 points and 9 rebounds for the half, while Belinelli had 11 points in 12 minutes. For the game, the Spurs had seven players in double figures, and almost had nine — DannyGreen! had 8 points and Patty Mills 7. Combining the Game Seven win against the Mavs and the first two against the Blazers, the Beautiful Game Playoff Spurs were beginning to emerge.

Game Three was back in Portland, in front of the some of the best fans in the NBA, where the Blazers had gone 31-10. But the first half again told the story:

Down 20 at halftime, at home, the Blazers’ barn was officially burned. Portland never got closer than 7 in the second half, and never closer than 10 in the fourth quarter. The most remarkable stat from the game: the Spurs went 25 for 25 on free throws, with My Man Manu Ginobili going 10 for 10.

The Blazers salvaged some pride with a 103-92 win in Game Four, but the Spurs closed the series in San Antonio with a 17-point win in Game Five, 104-87. Kawhi continued his excellent series with 22 points, 4 boards, 7 assists, 5 steals — and no turnovers. DG had 22 points with 9 boards, going 4 or 6 from three, and everyone was ready to move on. As Mark Barrington wrote after the game:

As the game ended, there were no streamers, just a team grateful to gain a few additional days of rest and preparation for their next opponent. They are focused on only one goal, the same goal they narrowly missed last June.

Unfortunately, Tony Parker injured his hamstring in Game Five and only played 10 minutes. That was a serious concern for the next round. Also concerning was Manu’s play, as he shot only 14 for 49 in the five games, 2 of 14 from three. Both future Hall-of-Fame guards would need to play well if the Spurs wanted to make the Finals again to try to gain redemption from the 2013 Finals.’

Round Two of the 2014 playoffs ended May 14, 2014, ten years ago today. After dispatching the Aldridge-Lillard Blazers, the Spurs next faced an another two-headed monster in league MVP Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook of the OKC Thunder. The Thunder had beaten the Blake Griffin-Chris Paul Clippers in six games in the second round, and KD had a remarkable series, averaging 33.2 points, 9.5 boards and 5.3 assists. In the clinching Game Six, he put up an incredible 39/16/5 line in the Thunder’s 104-98 win. Westbrook had a 27.8/6.0/8.8 line for the series.

The Thunder also would be bringing some big thunder, with Kendrick Perkins, Steven Adams and Nick Collison set to match up with the Spurs bigs. In what seemed like a bad break for the Thunder, Serge Ibaka — who had been a real problem for the Spurs since 2012 — injured his left calf against the Clippers and the Thunder announced he was OUT for the rest of the playoffs. That turned out to be a lie.

The Spurs lost all four regular season games against the Thunder. Game One of the 2014 Western Conference Finals would begin May 19, 2014 in San Antonio. Stay tuned.