(1) San Antonio Spurs vs. (5) Golden State Warriors
Series begins Monday in San Antonio live on Sportsnet ONE beginning at 9:30 p.m. ET/6:30 p.m. PT. Game 1 will immediately follow the first game of the Heat-Bulls series.
Season series: Tied 2-2
Spurs starters: Kawhi Leonard SF (11.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg); Tim Duncan PF (17.8 ppg, 9.9 rpg); Tiago Splitter C (10.3 ppg, 2.1 rpg); Tony Parker PG (20.3 ppg, 7.6 apg, 3.0 rpg); Danny Green SG (10.5 ppg, 3.1 rpg).
Warriors starters: Harrison Barnes SF (13 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 5.4 apg); Carl Landry PF (10.8 ppg, 6 rpg); Andrew Bogut C (5.8 ppg, 7.7 rpg); Stephen Curry PG (22.9 ppg, 4 rpg, 6.9 apg); Klay Thompson SG (16.6 ppg, 3.7 rpg).
Historical note: Over the years the Warriors have not been a playoff regular although the two sides did meet in 1991 with the Golden State advancing through a first-round matchup.
For Spurs to win: The Spurs rolled through their first-round matchup against the shorthanded Lakers in four straight and need to try and finish off the Warriors quickly to allow their aging stars time to rest.
They will not hold as big of a backcourt advantage against Golden State as they did vs. Miami so the frontline of Tim Duncan and Tiago Splitter will have to step up against a Warriors team that will be without David Lee.
While Lee is a solid scorer, his backup Carl Landry will provide more problems for the Spurs as he is one of the strongest post defenders in the league. His backup, Draymond Green also likes to mix it up so the Spurs will have to get more physical than they are used to.
It will be interesting to see what type of plan Gregg Popovich puts together to try and control the tempo and slow down the Warriors strong outside shooting game.
For Warriors to win: While the Spurs will come into this series as heavy favourites, the Warriors proved that they will notback down from anyone during their first-round victory over the Denver Nuggets which was as physical a series as we have seen since the Knicks and Pacers did battle during the Patrick Ewing era.
Some have said that the backcourt of Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson is the best shooting guard pairing of all time, that may be a little bit of a stretch but what isn’t a stretch is the fact that these two need to be on target vs. San Antonio is the Warriors are to advance.
Coach Mark Jackson called out the Nuggets for trying to injure Curry in Game 5 of his series but his team seemed just as guilty of being overly physical in the match.
Andrew Bogut will have to continue to be physical without crossing the line against a veteran Spurs team which will know how to push his buttons.
Key matchup: Tony Parker vs. Steph Curry. Curry seemed to really blossom this season but can he slow down Parker and still have enough left in the tank to carry this team. He will get some time off when Jarrett Jack is on the floor but Warriors need to control the Frenchman if they have any hiope of pulling off the upset.
Big question: I am curious to see what is in the cards for late-season signee Tracy McGrady. Does he have anything left in the tank or is he just a security blanket?
Best bet: Spurs in five.
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