(1) Golden State Warriors vs (3) San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs were very impressive in the last round against a Houston Rockets team who many predicted would come out on top (I predicted a tough seven game series). Many knew the Spurs were a sneaky deep team with productive and versatile bench players such as- Jonathon Simmons, David Lee, Kyle Anderson, Dejounte Murray and, of course, Manu Ginobili who all played a role in taking down the Rockets. They became even more important after losing Tony Parker and Kawhi Leonard due to injuries.
Now the Spurs face a completely different challenge- the most star studded starting five in the NBA in the Golden State Warriors who have yet to be challenged at all during their playoff run, sweeping both teams they have faced so far.
A big part why the Spurs won the series was ironically due to MVP candidate James Harden’s lack of production the last game and a half of their series. He laid an egg in the second half and overtime of game five and played as if he were seriously concussed in game six.
The Rockets are extremely one dimensional. Harden is surrounded by shooters, which is typically a good thing in today’s basketball. That is unless those guys are off. If Harden is not making things happen, the others are not capable of taking a game over. That is exactly what happened and the Spurs were able to take full advantage of it.
That will not be the case for the Golden State Warriors. They have multiple guys who can take a game over at any time.
If Stephen Curry is not on his game, Klay Thompson is very capable of stepping up. If Thompson is off, Draymond Green can impose his will defensively. Green’s style of play can change the momentum of a game in his team’s favor.
Then there’s Kevin Durant, one of the best scorers the league has ever seen. With his length, ball skills, and shooting range he is almost impossible to stop. He is the type of guy you just try to contain. This is the exact reason Durant signed with the Warriors- to get past the Spurs regularly and no face the team he’s with now. He’s now in it to compete for multiple titles and solidify his career as one of the best ever in the process.
All four of these guys are not going to be off on the same night. It just will not happen. They will not catch Harden-itis and let this series get away from them.
If the Warriors are able to stagger the player’s minutes correctly, they should be able to have at least two of these guys on the floor at all times.
The Spurs, on the other hand, are incredibly reliant on one guy to do most of the heavy lifting on both ends of the court: Kawhi Leonard. It’s hard not to love Leonard and the role players on this Spurs team. In the end the Warriors will prove to have too much scoring and defensive production from their big four for the them to handle.
Although the Spur’s bench is better than that of the Warriors’, it may not be enough to get past them. The Spurs’ playoff run ends here.
Series Prediction: Warriors in 6