NBA Match Preview: San Antonio Spurs vs Golden State Warriors
Finishing off play for Tuesday night will be the Golden State Warriors as they host the Western Conference current toppers San Antonio Spurs at the Oracle Arena, Oakland.
With guards Manu Ginobili and George Hill and forward Tim Duncan on the roster, the Spurs are enjoying their best season yet, especially on the road. Sporting a 7-0 record on the road so far, the Spurs are the only NBA team to
go without losing in away matches. They started their road matches with the Los Angeles Clippers defeating them 97-88. Since then, they have moved past the Phoenix Suns (112-110), the Charlotte Bobcats (95-91), the Oklahoma City Thunder (117-104), the Utah
Jazz (94-82), the Minnesota Timberwolves (113-109) and the New Orleans Hornets (109-95) to enjoy the current perfect road record.
Coming from a 3-1 mark in the last week, the Spurs are going at a superb pace this season looking at more than 60 game wins. Even though their twelve-match winning streak was broken last week, on Friday, when they suffered a 94-103
loss against the Dallas Mavericks, they bounced back on Sunday by defeating the Hornets and improving to a 14-2 win-loss mark for the season.
The credit of the victory goes to Ginobili, who helped the team fight back from a seventeen-point deficit at half time to a 109-95 victory. Ginobili led the way as he scored 23 points enabling the Spurs to limit the Hornets to
34 points in the second half while they themselves reached a season high of 37 in the fourth quarter.
Guard Hill believes they are a second half team and display like this will carry them into a successful season. Talking to the press, he said, "For some strange reason we've been a second-half type of team - give up points
in the beginning then lock down defense in the second half. If we can play defense the way we did in the second half … I think it's going to be a scary year for everybody."
If the Spurs continue this form into tonight’s match, a victory over the Warriors would be very much in the bag.
Warriors, on the other hand, are scraping a mediocre season with poor results this past week. Having suffered three losses this past week, their win-loss mark for the week has dropped down to 8-9. They were, however, successful
in breaking their five-match losing streak, as they defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves in an away match.
Impressive effort from the 3-point range by their forward Dorell Wright contributed much to the team’s victory against the Timberwolves. While scoring nine 3-pointers he averaged a career high of 30 in the match. David Lee also
returned to the game after missing eight of them due to a lacerated elbow. He scored ten points with six board. With their top rebounder back in play and their star forward shooting “extensively”, maybe the Warriors have a chance against the Spurs.
Despite their 8-9 mark this season, the Warriors enjoy a close 5-3 mark for home matches. They are currently averaging 107.1 points at the Oracle Arena. Although they have lost their last two home matches, nothing can be said sure
shot about them hosting the Spurs tonight. Maybe their win against the Timberwolves broke their losing streak or maybe it was just a one hit wonder?
Even though the Spurs have managed seven straight wins on the road so far, it cannot be said without a doubt that they will move to eight straight wins. The Warriors did perform well in their last match, though the question remains
whether they will be able to continue their form against the Spurs. Will the Spurs continue to maintain their perfect road record or will the Warriors be “the” team to taint that perfect record? All of these questions will be answered as soon as the results
for today’s matchup hit the scoreboard.
Tags: