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A six- pack- and- a- half of thoughts on Warriors- Spurs ...
If it comes down to Spurs versus Warriors for the Western Conference title, will support ( outside of the Bay Area and San Antonio) break down along old- school/ new- school lines?
The Warriors win with their new- fangled gimmick, the three- ball. The Spurs win with fundamental fundamentals, led by the player known as the Big Fundamental.
It’s a battle of the bands: Steph and the Screensetters vs. Timmy and the Fundamentals.
The Warriors celebrate. The Spurs play, then get packed back into their robot crates. Tony Parker doesn’t shimmy.
Kawhi Leonard doesn’t stick out his tongue and yell at opponents. Tim Duncan’s version of a shimmy is raising an eyebrow one- eighth of an inch, although that might be just a tic.
The contrast makes for great theater.
Did you really think Gregg Popovich was going to trade for LaMarcus Aldridge and then not find a way to maximize his skills within what the Spurs do?
In the first meeting, Aldridge was completely neutralized by the Warriors. On Saturday, he had 26 points and 13 rebounds. If I had to guess which of those two LaMarcus Aldridges will show up for the next Spurs- Warriors game, I
would say Version B.
OK, the Spurs aren’t robots, but they’re much more outwardly businesslike. That said, you wonder if they don’t read newspapers and file away stuff for future motivation.
If so, they would have a nice collection in the wake of Saturday’s game.
“They did a good job rebounding the basketball, but that won’t always happen.” ( Draymond Green)
“All the odds were stacked against us.” ( Steve Kerr)
The Warriors, looking to take positives from the hard- fought loss, noted that they were short three key players and were playing their second game in two nights.
When the Warriors beat the Spurs in January, Popovich said flatout the Warriors are clearly a better team. On Saturday, nobody on the Warriors’ side said anything like that.
Granted, the Warriors didn’t lose by 30. But athletes have a funny way of reading, and right now, the Spurs might be asking one another with faux quizzical expressions, “Didn’t we beat them? I thought we beat them. No?”
You can brush off Curry’s bad shooting night all you want — he didn’t have his big- man screen- setters, it was just one of those things, etc. — but in the end, you have to deal with this:
Popovich had a defensive plan, and his players carried it out with ruthless efficiency.
All season long, opponents game- plan to stop Curry, but the plans — or the execution of the plans — stop somewhere short of full Kamikaze. On Saturday, the Spurs went all in.
Curry simply didn’t come off a screen with an open look. Often coming off a screen, he was met by a switching 6- foot- 9 defender willing to concede a drive in order to slow dance cheek to cheek with Curry.
It might not work next time. Your move, Coach Kerr. But Saturday was a win for Danny Green and the Screenstompers.
And don’t forget the starting- lineup switch, Popovich countering the Warriors’ small lineup by benching Tim Duncan for Boris Diaw.
He’s a dangerous and devious foe, that Popovich.
The Warriors do talk a better game than do the Spurs.
Working the Spurs’ locker room is not wildly rewarding. The players don’t say anything. Their old team leader, Duncan, is as wild and crazy as an insurance adjuster. Their new team leader, Leonard, is so low- key and taciturn than you might as well interview the coat rack.
It’s not that the Warriors are braggarts or blusterers, they’re just better talkers. The Warriors’ 10th- best- quote guy, whoever he is, is more quotable than any of the Spurs.
It’s impressive that the Spurs got Lucifer himself on the arena publicaddress mike, growling from the pits of hell,
“DEFENSE!”
The whole NBA PA thing is wildly out of control, but it’s odd that the NBA’s most quietly efficient and mature team would feature the PA stylings of a monstertruck- rally huckster.
But you know, they did play devilish defense. Worth noting: Though the Warriors played without Andrew Bogut, Andre Iguodala and Festus Ezeli, the Spurs got underwhelming performances from guys named Parker, Duncan and Ginobili.
The Spurs can be a great tonic for the Warriors. A turning point in the Warriors’ 2014- 15 championship season was regular- season Game 7, when the Spurs beat ’ em by 13 at Oracle.
Kerr, rather than shrug off that game as a garden- variety NBA loss, went ballistic, demanding that his team cut back on the French pastry and get back to fundamental basketball. The Warriors went on a 16game win streak.
So call the Spurs Pop and the Attentiongetters.