Spurs clamp down on Curry and Warriors, stay perfect at home.
San Antonio uses homecourt to advantage in clash of Goliaths
SAN ANTONIO — There’s just something about this place.
The Warriors, even this historic iteration of the team, can’t seem to find a way to win in San Antonio, where the Spurs extended their regular-season home winning streak in the series to 33 games with an 87-79 victory Saturday night.
The Spurs (59-10), who haven’t lost a regular-season home game to the Warriors since Feb. 14, 1997, moved three games back of the Warriors (62-7) atop the Western
Conference standings.
“It would be nice to end it, so we can stop hearing about it,” said Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, who was limited to 14 points on 1-of-12 three-point shooting. “It’s a small, microscopic blemish on turning the identity of our organization. We’ll eventually get rid of that.”
Not on this night. Not on this stage. Not under these circumstances.
This national TV game showcased teams with the best combined winning percentage (120-16, .881) at least 65 games into a season in NBA history. The game managed to live up to the billing, despite the Warriors playing the second game of a backto-back set without three key rotation players.
To continue their streak, the Spurs needed Danny Green’s layup at the 3:37 mark, and Kawhi Leonard’s free throws with 2:39 left to take an 82-77 lead. Klay Thompson’s reverse layup trimmed the Warriors’ deficit to 82-79 with 2:23 left, but LaMarcus Aldridge answered with an allbut-clinching turnaround jumper 37 seconds later.
“We were down three guys who play huge minutes for us, coming here off a back-to-back and not making shots and not having the legs we want,” said Thompson, who had 15 points on 1-of-7 three-point shooting. “We’ll live with this. Obviously, it’s not the result we wanted, but we see these guys two more times.”
In the next two matchups, the Warriors hope to have Andre Iguodala, Festus Ezeli and Andrew Bogut. Iguodala (ankle) and Ezeli (knee) stayed in Oakland to rehab, and Bogut didn’t play because of an injury he tweaked during Friday’s win in Dallas.
He had an MRI exam Saturday, and the Warriors are calling the injury “a left foot/toe injury” until they receive the results Sunday. With Bogut absent, the Spurs used Tim Duncan off the bench and for only eight minutes. This was the future Hall-of-Famer’s third career game off the bench and the first since 2010.
San Antonio got plenty from the rest of its front line. Aldridge had 26 points and 13 rebounds, Leonard added 18 points and 14 rebounds, and Boris Diaw went for 14 points and eight rebounds.
The Warriors were outrebounded 53-37 and got beat 24-12 on secondchance points. They never led by more than three points, scored a season-low 79 points and made a season-low 31 field goals.
“I’ve got to play a lot better and manage the game a lot better, especially if certain shots that I normally make aren’t falling,” Curry said. “I’ve got to be able to adjust — not lose confidence at all — just find different ways to impact the game. It’s a good learning experience for me.”
The learning commenced from the start, when the Warriors tied a season low with 18 first-quarter points and plodded along to a season-low 37 first-half points. Kerr tried to get some energy from his tired players.
During the first quarter, he blew a gasket after he believed the Spurs were getting away with holding Warriors running off of screens. He flailed his arms, was chased by assistant coach Luke Walton and had to be held back by Leandro Barbosa, but he was in control the whole time — smiling at Gregg Popovich during the rant and asking “You like that?”
“I went Scottish,” Kerr joked. “Pop goes Serbian, and I go Scottish. No, I was just mad about some calls. That happens every game.”
After missing his first seven three-point attempts, Curry got one to fall with 5:23 remaining in the third quarter. The shot extended Curry’s NBA-record streak of games with at least one three-pointer to 139 and tied the game 55-55.
The Warriors became just the fifth visiting team all season to hold a fourth-quarter lead in San Antonio (all of 96 combined seconds), but the Spurs were back on top 75-71 when Curry re-entered the game with 5:58 to play.
“The game was right there for us, but we just couldn’t quite get over the hump,” said Kerr, whose team dropped to 54-1 when entering the fourth quarter tied or with a lead. “The Spurs outplayed us. They deserved to win, but we’re proud of our guys.
“They fought.”