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The San Antonio Spurs gave their championship hopes a boost on Sunday with an eight-point win over conference leaders the Golden State Warriors.
The Spurs won for the same reason they’ve won all year – defence. They shut down the most offensively gifted team in the comp and kept them to 79 points. They kept Klay Thompson and Steph Curry to 15 and 14 points respectively. Curry had zero in the last quarter, he couldn’t find any space to do the things we’re so accustomed to.
Golden State missed Andrew Bogut and Andre Iguodala, especially down low where Diaw and Aldridge went to work.
The Spurs were led by excellent performances by LaMarcus Aldridge (26 & 13) and Kawhi Leonard (18, 14 & 4). But more important was their work to secure the extra possession – Leonard had 6 offensive boards and Aldridge 3 and no matter what they were always fighting for them.
Leonard also threw himself onto more loose balls than I can count but their work secured multiple possessions for the Spurs and is a big reason they won.
The Warriors should be commended for how they reacted to the Spurs’ defence. They don’t meet a defence that can break down their offence often and they did their best against a tough opponent, their shots just failed them.
Final score
San Antonio Spurs 87
Golden State Warriors 79
Two teams putting together two of the greatest individual seasons of all time will match up when the Golden State Warriors (62-6) travel to Texas to face the San Antonio Spurs (58-10). It is the most combined wins between opponents in NBA history. Join The Roar from 11:30am (AEDT) for live scores and coverage.
It would be hard to imagine a team putting up 58 wins through 68 games with less fanfare than the Spurs this season. Everyone knows they’re a great team but attention has been well and truly fixed on what the Warriors have been doing.
The Warriors are exciting. The Spurs are fundamentally sound. Golden State (Steph Curry) has the audacity to shoot from halfway with time still on the clock. San Antonio get as excited about an efficient defensive rotation as they would an alley-oop. But both are undeniably brilliant.
Every member of the Spurs’ roster knows and embraces their system, it would not work if that was not the case. And while it may lack the flashy plays it is beautiful in its own way with every inch-perfect pass and off-ball movement.
The hallmark of the Spurs this season, however, is their defence. They allow 95.7 points per 100 possessions, the best mark in the league by a long way.
They will need to bring all of their defensive prowess when they face Golden State who have the best offence in the NBA – again by a large margin.
It’s worth nothing though that Golden State have a top five ranked defence and San Antonio are in the top five offensively also. You cannot be great in this league without playing on both ends of the floor.
Despite the better record, Golden State actually trails San Antonio in point differential on the season, 11.5 to 12.3, whether this plays out on the night remains to be seen.
The Spurs have not lost at home since March 2015, a winning-streak of 43 games. Beyond that the Warriors have not won in San Antonio since 1997, and Tim Duncan has never lost to the Warriors at home. Golden State would love to break that streak and you can bet San Antonio will not want to give it up.
The last time these two faced each other the Warriors embarrassed the Spurs by 30 points. Curry had 37 points and Golden State managed to completely remove LaMarcus Aldridge from the game, keeping him to five points. San Antonio were also without Duncan who, even at 39, is an integral part of their team, both defensively and as a spiritual leader.
This time it’s Golden State missing some key pieces. Andrew Bogut left their game yesterday against Dallas with a toe injury. While scans returned negative coach Steve Kerr thought it was unlikely he’d play today. He joins reigning finals MVP Andre Iguodala on the bench as he recovers from an ankle injury.
Steph Curry is out-of-this-world brilliant but basketball will always be a team game. One of the Warriors’ great strengths is their depth, but with their current injuries the Spurs are looking a little deeper.
Putting that all together I see the Spurs taking this one. The Warriors played yesterday, have injury concerns and are facing San Antonio at home. Also after the last game I really expect the Spurs to send a message to the NBA that it’s not all about Golden State this season.
Prediction: Spurs by 17.
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