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Forget the X's and O's; Spurs-Warriors in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals was loaded with drama and big debates after Golden State's 113-111 victory Sunday. From injuries to MVP talk to the tough question of whether the series is already over, there's plenty of conversation to be had about Game 1. Here are the five biggest storylines coming out of Sunday.

1. Kawhi's re-injury changes everything, and might have been caused intentionally

The Spurs led by 20. Stephen Curry had started to heat up, bombing 3-pointers. But the Spurs were matching him shot for shot in the third quarter. Then Zaza Pachulia slid under Kawhi Leonard contesting a shot, and everything changed. Leonard left the game and did not return. It's the third time he has injured his ankle inside of a week, after suffering the original injury in Game 5 on Tuesday against the Rockets. He did not play in the Spurs' clinching Game 6 victory, then tweaked it in the third quarter of Game 1 by stepping on the foot of David Lee as he landed out of bounds. He returned to play, however, before Pachulia slid under him. 

Leonard, for his part, did not think Pachulia's slide under him was intentional:

Nonetheless, players know to avoid this kind of thing. It was rampant in the 2000's, when the term "The Bowen" was ironically coined after former Spurs defensive pest Bruce Bowen. Now, the Spurs' postseason hopes might have finally ended because of it, whether Pachulia intended to slide under him or not. 

There's also going to be talk of how this performance proves that Leonard is the MVP. With him, they had a 23-point lead. Without him, it was gone in under five minutes. Sounds valuable, but then, the MVP is a regular-season award. 

2. The Warriors get all the breaks

Leonard's injury also takes away the strength of the Warriors' comeback, which, who knows, might have happened regardless of the injury. But the Warriors have now faced: 

Injuries happen to everyone. But that's a huge number of starters to miss meaningful playoff games against them. The Warriors, by contrast, were without Andrew Bogut and with Stephen Curry hobbled during last year's NBA Finals collapse after leading 3-1. 

As if Draymond Green becoming a defensive superstar, Curry signing on a discount due to an ankle injury, the cap going up by a huge amount the same year Kevin Durant was a free agent, and Durant being open to come to Golden State weren't enough breaks, it seems the Warriors are going to continue to catch every conceivable lucky flip of the coin you could imagine. Everything has aligned perfectly for the Warriors, even when things go as wrong as they did in Game 1. 

3. The Warriors don't need to play well, they have two MVP's

If the Spurs suffered without their MVP, the Warriors only survived because they have two of them. Curry and Durant scored 74 points out of 113 for the Warriors. They shot 25 of 47 from the field. No other Warrior made more than four shots in this game. 

And the Warriors' comeback wasn't sparked by great ball movement or some glorious offense. They didn't grind out possessions to find good shots. They just have two of the best shot-makers the league has ever seen. That's all it came down to. Well, that and the Leonard injury.

But when you wonder for all the talk about how inevitable the Warriors' winning feels, even with the Leonard injury, almost any other team (outside of the Cavs) loses that game. The Spurs made plays, from Manu Ginobili to Jonathon Simmons to -- to a degree -- LaMarcus Aldridge. And yet it wasn't enough, because the Warriors just don't have to execute or find a great game plan. Their talent wins out over everything else. 

4. LaMarcus Aldridge is always fading away

With Leonard out, Aldridge needed to step up. But as we wrote about before the game, he went to his fadeaway jumper constantly in the fourth. He didn't attack inside, he didn't get to the rim, even when guarded by smaller opponents. He faded away, which is always going to be a lower percentage shot. Aldridge was 2 of 7 on fadeaway or turnaround jump shots in Game 1. 

Some of these weren't even contested. Aldridge was open and still fading away unnecessarily. 

The Spurs' best shot at this series is to use their superior size. Pau Gasol struggled and Aldridge hurt his chances to be a hero by constantly opting for tougher shots than he needed to.  

5. This loss could not have been worse for the Spurs 

The Spurs had a 25-point lead, blew it, but don't get to tell themselves they could have won if they just played better, because they also lost their best player to injury. Right now it feels like everything that can go wrong is going wrong. This team is tough, that's how it beat the Rockets in Game 6 without Leonard. But this is a gut-punch game. 

After Game 6, Danny Green said that he felt the Rockets might have been emotionally exhausted after losing a tough and brutal Game 5 in San Antonio. You wonder if the same is going to be true of the Spurs, and whether they should even try and rally for Game 2 or focus on getting Leonard back healthy for Game 3 on Saturday with extra rest and plot one more final stand back home near the Alamo.