The Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs face off in a regular season battle so epic, that many are calling it the best National Basketball Association matchup in history – including Nate Silver and the fine statisticians over at FiveThirtyEight.
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Curry’s lucky this column was put on brief hiatus last week; otherwise, he would’ve briefly relinquished his throne after dropping two games the previous week to inferior teams in the Denver Nuggets and Detroit Pistons. Thirteen straight victories and 20 out of 21. Warriors win by 6 or 7 and it’s free throws during the foul game to extend time. The Warriors have yet to lose at home, going 20-0. “They’re absolutely rolling over people right now”. They know it’s only January, a time for conditioning and calisthenics. “It’s remarkable to me that I’m 50 years old, I’ve been retired for 13 years and there are still three guys and the same coach who are all on that team”.
But when you haven’t a seen a team yet it’s hard to know what those cards that you’re holding are… if that makes sense. They cant help it. Theyll be playing the best team in the league, and theyll be fired up about that. Kerr played four of his final five seasons with San Antonio.
“They won’t leave me (on Curry) by myself”, Parker said after the Spurs’ hour-long practice at the University of San Francisco.
Six of the other eight teams on the list above won the championship.
Who is the best team in the Western Conference? That won’t be accomplished even by winning today, but you have to start somewhere.
They Spurs are the NBA’s best defense by an equally wide margin, leading the league in defensive rating (93.5 points per 100 possessions) and ranking second in opponent field goal percentage (42.6 percent). It’s the last mountain they must climb to truly look down on everybody.
NETS 116, THUNDER 106: In New York, Brook Lopez scored a season-high 31 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as Brooklyn snapped Oklahoma City’s seven-game winning streak. Following their matchup with the Spurs, the Warriors will host the Mavericks on Wednesday, nearly exactly two months after Dallas handed the Dubs their second loss of the season.
What you’re really looking for is how certain match-ups work and how they play out. The Warriors had upset Denver in the first round of the playoffs, but that was as much an indictment of the Nuggets. Tim Duncan will miss the game due to knee soreness, while the Warriors have only recently gotten Harrison Barnes back. The Spurs eyes are always out there focused on the horizon and the playoffs that you can’t yet see.
At the same time, however, Popovich wasn’t taking things so seriously that he couldn’t enjoy being in the company of his close friend and coaching protégé Steve Kerr for the first time this year. “He’s a terror on defense, and offensively he’s gotten better and better”. But San Antonio is such a different animal. In fact, the Spurs have led the league in offensive efficiency since December 1.
They took the Cavs out so thoroughly that it likely played a part in Cleveland shockingly firing coach David Blatt on Friday and followed that up by roasting the Bulls at the United Center.
Most of all, the Warriors left that series knowing they were onto something.
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“Excellent basketball”, Curry, the reigning MVP, said of the Spurs. “You’ve got to assume they will”.
