The Warriors and Spurs are ready for mutually-assured destruction
It’s here. Kind of. Not really. But, perhaps. Stupid Spurs; forever keeping us on our heels, guessing at what comes next.
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The defending champion Golden State Warriors are set to take on the San Antonio Spurs on Monday evening, the three-month payoff for those of us who have kept rapt attention to the NBA’s two best teams since late October. Golden State has the league’s best record at 40-4, while San Antonio has the league’s best point differential (14.4 points per game) at this point in the season in not only the NBA, but league history. Both are on pace to challenge the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ record for wins in a season. Those Bulls finished 72-10, while the Warriors’ winning percentage predicts a 75-7 record, and the Spurs are in line on paper for 71-11.
Of course, the Spurs had to go and throw a typical knowing wrench into things on Sunday, announcing that big man Tim Duncan would sit out Monday’s much-anticipated contest due to right knee soreness. In an earlier era, this would seem to put the kibosh on this marquee matchup living up to its billing. The lights would dim if Larry Bird sat with bone spurs, or Magic Johnson rested with knee tendonitis. If Scottie Pippen sat out with a heel problem, or Karl Malone was suspended for elbowing Donyell Marshall the night before.
In this odd, wonderful and fluid modern NBA, though, we’re not sure if this isn’t so much trolling (a word that wasn’t around when the Spurs drafted Tim Duncan back in 1997), or an advantageous move. Not because San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich is notorious for resting his players in anticipation of a two-month post season run come spring, but because San Antonio might be better off with the Greatest Player of His Generation on the sideline.
It might not be gamesmanship, but rather winthedamngamesmanship.
The Spurs are not a better team with Duncan on the sideline. Some metrics rank him as the league’s most effective defensive player despite his limited minutes, and his replacements will not be able to deter some Warriors finishers (both big and small, starters or reserves) from finishing near the rim. Nor will they be able to make the sort of impact Duncan does on the glass, even if he isn’t the one clearing the glass.
With that in place, in-and-out lineups featuring Boris Diaw, LaMarcus Aldridge, and in-prime 7-3 reserve center Boban Marjanovic will be able to do plenty of damage. The loss of Duncan should do nothing to alter how compelling a pairing this is, which is an odd thing to say considering not only Duncan’s star power, but just how effective he’s been this season against disparate styles of opponents.
(And, for a second, can we lose the idea that this is strictly a move to rest the 39-year old? This guy tore the meniscus in his left knee 16 years ago. He was born while Elvis Presley was still alive. He was probably already walking by the time Elvis Presley died. He was probably walking better than Elvis Presley was walking, around the same time Elvis Presley died. It’s possible that his right knee hurts enough to keep him out of an NBA game in 2016.)
This doesn’t mean the Spurs won’t have their troubles.
The Warriors sloughed off the idea that NBA teams fare poorly on their first night back home after a road trip by downing the Indiana Pacers by 12 on Friday; a game that wasn’t really that close. That win came in the same week that saw the squad beat both the Cavaliers and Bulls by a combined 65 points. That fearsome excavation of the Eastern Conference was a swift rebuttal to the NBA’s combined realization that the Warriors’ light had dimmed a bit in the preceding weeks, despite all those wins, and the understanding that San Antonio’s point differential was tops in NBA history.
Further extending the esprit de corps was the return of Warriors head coach Steve Kerr, who missed the season’s first 43 games as he recovered from complications from two back surgeries.
Kerr, who signed as a free agent to play alongside Tim Duncan weeks after Bill Clinton’s impeachment hearings sparked up, is just as astonished as the rest of us at the squad’s ability to sustain. From the San Francisco Chronicle:
“I know them pretty well,” Kerr said in advance of Monday’s much-anticipated matchup between the Warriors and Spurs. “It’s remarkable to me that I’m 50 years old and have been retired for 13 years, and they have three guys and a coach who are still on that team.
“It makes no sense. The continuity and the program they’ve built is amazing.”
Those two other players Kerr is referring to playing alongside are Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili, guards who watched in wonderment as Kerr helped shoot the Spurs into the 2003 Finals and eventual championship:
Of course, Kerr is just (in our terms) 1-0 as Warriors coach this season. His predecessor, Luke Walton, suitably impressed Popovich even without a prior 2015-16 matchup:
“What was most impressive about him was his demeanor,” Popovich said. “Who knows what he felt inside, but he never showed frustration or fear or excitement that would hurt the team. He was very measured in everything he did. For a young guy, the first time, I thought he was fantastic.”
The tactful Coach Pop has good reason to be salty. Kerr’s return likely means that Popovich will be forced to coach the NBA All-Star Game in Toronto next month, as the NBA bars back-to-back coaching returns. Now that Kerr (who coached the West last season) is back, Pop will have to suit up for duty:
Kerr: "It's the only reason I'm (back) is to make Pop spend his AS break at the game instead of on some beach with a mai tai in his hand."
— Diamond Leung (@diamond83) January 22, 2016
That’s nitty. Let’s get gritty.
If you’ve had the displeasure to have known the Philadelphia 76ers this year, you’d understand that the team’s front office has constructed them to lose games, and that they’re the worst team in the NBA in both record and on the offensive end of the court. San Antonio, even while resting starters and playing Duncan just over half a game, still holds teams to offensive efficiency totals that dip far, far below what the Sixers have produced on average this year. The Spurs defend teams to a point that they begin to resemble a minor league squad.
The Warriors, meanwhile, not only feature the league’s best offense, but easily the most destructive five-man lineup since Michael Jordan ran with four other guys in red and black. Smaller squads featuring Draymond Green (there are going to be attempted lobs without Tim Duncan tonight, friends) dashing about the court and daring combatants both center-y and swingman-y to get in his way in transition haven’t acted a fluke since we became aware of this configuration last June and again before Thanksgiving. This is legit, and clearly sustainable.
This is a long way of saying that, in spite of Duncan’s absence, both teams will still be going all-out on Monday, and that both squads have their work cut out for them. LaMarcus Aldridge and Boris Diaw will have to settle into roles they’re often unfamiliar with, but also gigs that can thrive within. Golden State needn’t worry about execution so much as it has to play freely and in the moment – treating that legendary Spurs defense like it’s run by a coach who is about to be fired.
This is what’s going to make the next four regular season matchups, and the hoped-for seven postseason matchups between these two teams, so compelling. Not just because, in terms of combined winning percentage, this is technically the NBA’s Greatest Regular Season Game Ever.
The Warriors could win by 25 tonight, and it wouldn’t be a surprise. The Spurs could win by just as much, and it shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Either team could sweep the regular season series by a combined four or 88 points, and that should not shock us. The same potential disparity, come the playoffs, should not blow us away.
The Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs are this good. We have both Monday and another five months to enjoy them. Let’s take advantage.
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is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @KDonhoops
