The Warriors pulled one out of their ... hat

The Spurs knocked the Warriors off of their danged feet to open the Western Conference Finals on Sunday, building a 23-point lead with eight minutes left in the third. Then Zaza Pachulia undercut Kawhi Leonard on a jumper, aggravating an already injured ankle.

Leonard left the game for good, and the Warriors immediately went on an 18-0 run.

The Spurs fought valiantly to the end without Leonard or Tony Parker, but Stephen Curry took over down the stretch and Golden State squeaked out a 113-111 win to remain undefeated in the playoffs. We all wait with bated breath to learn whether Leonard will play again this series. He already missed Game 6 against Houston because of the ankle, and sat an overtime period in Game 5 of that series plus a quarter and a half of Sunday’s game.

Pachulia has drawn a good deal of fire for both sliding under Kawhi on the fateful jumper and for graduating his illegal screens to straight-up shoving defenders. There’s a certain richness in San Antonians complaining about a defender sliding under jump shooters given that the Spurs retired Bruce Bowen’s jersey five years ago. Still, Bowen being dirty doesn’t excuse Pachulia being dirty. Stop trying to injure people, people!

Leonard, for what it’s worth, doesn’t think Zaza intended to injure him.

No top-10 prospects showed up to the NBA Draft Combine to participate in drills, scrimmages, or media availability. That led Paul Flannery to ask whether the combine has outlived its usefulness in this week’s Sunday Shootaround. It turns out that the combine is still important for those prospects who aren’t household names, those players fighting for their basketball careers. Shootaround also has five numbers that show the dominance of the Warriors and Cavaliers, and five draft prospects to watch. Check it out.

We have a Game 7! The Celtics and Wizards will settle their series at 8 p.m. ET on TNT. The winner gets an extremely rested LeBron James. Congratulations?

Gregg Popovich held court on President Trump again.

Instead of opening herself up to humiliation at the hands of a Popovich in-game interview, Doris Burke wished herself a happy Mother’s Day.

Last Popovich note: look at him getting the Gatorade out of the camera shot during his postgame presser.

Kyrie Irving has advice for LaVar Ball.

An incredibly powerful story about Randy Foye finding his mom after 27 years apart.

How Popovich, a motorcycle, and a sabbatical rejuvenated Mike Brown’s coaching career.

And finally: Ben Simmons was an incredibly large baby.