On Monday night, the Golden State Warriors (41-4) and San Antonio Spurs (38-7) faced off for the first time this season and boy did the Warriors send the Spurs a message. The Warriors won going away by a final score of 120-90 to the delight of their home crowd.
Stephen Curry was simply sensational, scoring 37 points on 12-20 shooting from the field, 6-9 shooting from 3-point range, and 7-7 shooting from the foul line. It felt like every time Stephen Curry threw something at the basket, it went in, which is something that we are accustomed to seeing. In addition to Curry going wild, the Warriors really fed off of the energy of their home crowd and turned a 10-12 point lead into a 30 point blowout. There's a lot of things we can take away from this game, but for the sake of simplicity, I have cut my list to five things.
The first thing we should take away from this game is that while the Warriors dominated the Spurs, this is just one game and it was on the Warriors' home floor. I know that Warriors fans see this game as proof that the Warriors are just going to steamroll every team in the playoffs, including the Spurs. While I agree that the Warriors should be the favorites to win the NBA championship, we need to keep in mind that Monday's game was only one game and that the Warriors had the advantage of playing at home. The Spurs are also undefeated at home on the season and they will certainly be eager to defend their home floor when they face the Warriors in San Antonio.
The second thing we need to take away from this game is that the Spurs need to be healthy in order to compete with the Warriors. Tim Duncan did not play in this game due to knee soreness and his absence was huge in this game. The Spurs are all about staying healthy for the playoffs and Monday night showed us why. The Spurs understand that if they don't have their guys at full strength or close to full strength, they cannot beat the Warriors in a 7 game series. Duncan's absence doesn't diminish the Warriors' win, but it does underscore the importance of Tim Duncan and the Spurs needing to be at full strength.
Third, we learned that the officials did not give the Warriors an advantage. The Spurs actually attempted 31 foul shots while the Warriors attempted 25 foul shots. When I said the Warriors benefited from home court advantage, I did not say that they got home cookin'. The officials officiated this game fair and square. The Spurs lost this game because they couldn't contain Stephen Curry and they turned the ball over 25 times and only had 21 assists.
Fourth, the Spurs' desire to play fast may hurt them against the Warriors. A team that may give the Warriors more trouble is a team that slows it down and grinds it out. The Memphis Grizzlies don't have the firepower to beat the Warriors, but they have the style. If the Spurs want to beat the Warriors in a seven game series, they may not want to try to beat them at their own game, which is an up-tempo style of basketball. If the Spurs remain committed to playing at a fast pace, they probably won't find success against the Warriors regardless of what city they are in.
The final thing we need to take way from this game is that a lot can happen between now and May, which is when these teams are projected to face each other. If all stands pat, the Warriors probably win the NBA championship and defeat the Spurs in the Western Conference finals. However, if the Warriors start to get inflicted by injury and if the Spurs keep their core healthy, the Spurs may be the ones who win the NBA championship as opposed to the Warriors.
In conclusion, the main thing to take away from this game is that it really is just one game and there is plenty of basketball to play. These teams will face each other three more times in the regular season before the playoffs begin. While it's easy to look at this game as validation of the Warriors' supremacy in the NBA, they are called "defending champions" and not yet "back-to-back champions". The Warriors still have plenty of work to do as do the the Spurs. It's no question that they are the best two teams in the NBA, but it's still too early to say that one team has the clear upper hand at the moment.
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