Warriors vs Spurs Preview: Here We Go Again, This Time Under-Manned In San Antonio (Photo: Garrett Ellwood/Getty Images)
San Antonio Spurs (58-16) vs. Golden State Warriors (46-28)
Tip-off: Wednesday, April 2nd, 2014 – 8:30 PM PST
Location: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
Spread: San Antonio (-10) meaning Spurs are 10-point favorites
TV: CSN Bay Area | Radio: KNBR 1050 AM
Livetweet: @LetsGoWarriors (by @goldenstatenz)
Last Game / Streak:
SAS – Won 103-77 vs IND in Indiana, Won 18 straight games
GSW – Won 122-120 (OT) vs DAL in Dallas, Won 1 straight game
Last Meeting Between The Teams:
Warriors fell to San Antonio last time they meet in Oakland, 99-90. Ginobili and Duncan did not play that game.
Probable Starting Lineups:
Warriors:
PG: Stephen Curry (23.7 PPG, 4.3 RPG, 8.6 APG)
SG: Klay Thompson (18.2 PPG, 3.0 RPG, 2.2 APG)
SF: Andre Iguodala (9.4 PPG, 4.4 RPG, 4.2 APG)
PF: Marreese Speights (5.9 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 0.3 APG)
C: Jermaine O’Neal (7.9 PPG, 5.3 RPG, 0.4 APG)
HEAD COACH: Mark Jackson (115-106)
Spurs:
PG: Tony Parker (17.1 PPG, 2.3 RPG, 5.9 APG)
SG: Danny Green (8.7 PPG, 3.3 RPG, 1.5 APG)
SF: Kawhi Leonard (12.4 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 1.9 APG)
PF: Tim Duncan (15.2 PPG, 9.9 RPG, 3.1 APG)
C: Tiago Splitter (8.6 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 1.5 APG)
HEAD COACH: Gregg Popovich (963-439)
The Warriors will try to beat San Antonio on their home floor for the first time in 31 regular season games. Golden State will also look to end the Spurs’ great run of 18 straight ongoing wins. Lastly, they will look to keep their momentum going after last night’s huge road victory over the Dallas Mavericks.
Warriors face Spurs & streaks tonight: Spurs have won an NBA-season-high 18-straight & have won 30-straight reg. season home games vs. GSW
— GSWStats (@gswstats) April 2, 2014
San Antonio has an NBA best record of 58-16, and an 18 game winning streak. In that 18 game winning streak they have beaten their opponents by an average score of 16.5 points.
Daniel Farias of PoundingTheRock.com:
After San Antonio’s dominant March, it’s hard to envision any team hanging with the Spurs without being at full strength; especially a team that needs to rely so much on outside jumpers to win games. As good as Golden State has surprisingly been on the defensive end, it’s safe to say San Antonio has been better offensively over the past month. The ball movement from the Spurs’ offense has been utterly legendary during this winning streak and the Warriors have no shot of slowing them down without Andrew Bogut and a full-strength David Lee.
Jeff Bartl of STATS:
San Antonio (58-16) holds the NBA’s best record and has been on a tear of late, setting a franchise record for consecutive victories since losing to Phoenix on Feb. 21.
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It has won by an average of 16.5 points after Tony Parker scored a game-high 22 points in Monday’s 103-77 win over Indiana to break the team record.
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“I think he’ll be happy if we lose anytime soon,” Parker said of Popovich. “I’m pretty sure because he’s going to rest like half of the team.”
Monte Poole of CSN Bay Area:
The Warriors (46-28) are going from beating long odds against the Mavs to trying to conquer Mt. Everest in their underwear. Nobody, perhaps not even themselves, expects them to make it.
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“Just do what we do,” Warriors coach Mark Jackson said. “This is the best team in basketball. They’ve had an incredible year. We understand what we’re facing, but the bottom line is we’re looking forward to it.”
Dan McCarney of SpursNation:
Assessing the Warriors
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The Splash Brothers get most of the attention, with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson combining for almost 450 3-pointers this season. But Golden State actually does its best work on the defensive end, holding opponents to 43.6 shooting overall (fourth) and 34.8 percent on 3s (sixth). Much of that success can be attributed to Iguodala, with whom Golden State is 38-20. The Warriors tend to stagnate badly on offense when Curry (minus 16.8 points per 100 possessions) or Thompson (minus 13.6) are off the court.
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Key matchup
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Curry is averaging 25 points in two games against the Spurs this season, but they’ve made him work for them. He shot 41.5 percent in those outings with a total of 11 turnovers. Curry made one of the more memorable shots of his career on Tuesday in Dallas, sinking a 20-footer just before the buzzer to give the Warriors a 122-120 overtime victory. Parker, who typically cedes defensive duties on Curry to Danny Green, broke out of a mini-slump with 22 points on 10-for-18 shooting in Monday’s road rout of the Pacers.
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