If you were coach, how would you approach the potential GSW series?

[apalisoc_9]

Been seeing a lot of talk about GSW lately here..A few points

* GSW is not the same GSW two years ago. This team is legit. Fortunately, the spurs have weapons.

offensively.

- Splitter and Diaw needs to be aggressive and fed..IMO, the spurs need to establish a mismatch idea into Steve Kerr's head by scoring a couple of baskets against potential Small ball lineup..

- IMO, they just need to move the ball and it starts with Parker/Manu/Kawhi penetrating. I would call for the big matchuped against Bogut..Green is a monster defending the PnR when they're playing small...

- Green-Iggy-Barnes-Curry-Thompson is the scariest offensive lineup right now in the league, IMO..By doing 1, you force Kerr to use a different lineup..IMO do our best to force kerr to use a different lineup.

Defensively

- Green on Curry, Kawhi on Klay.

- I wouldn't hesitate to bench TD in the fourth. Thankfully, Pop has done this numerous times against GSW..With Splitter playing additional minutes.

- hide Parker on Barnes and force GSW to play offense through the post.

[wildchild]

Defensively

- Green on Curry, Kawhi on Klay.

- hide Parker on Barnes and force GSW to play offense through the post.

But it will take at least two games of the series.
Pop'll play his weak regular season rotations (Parker on Curry, Green on Thompson, Kawhi on Barnes) until Curry and Thompson go supernova for two or three consecutive games, then he'll use to the most proven deffensive assignments, Danny guarding Curry, Kawhi-Thompson and Tony-Barnes.
The main reason that Thompson scored +20 points against the Spurs this season is because Leonard wasn't guarding him.

[RD2191]

Aggressive aggressive aggressive. Especially on defense. Play hard and maybe a bit dirty... The Warriors are soft.

[Robz4000]

I'd like to see the Manu/Green/Leonard/Diaw/Splitter lineup get extended minutes. With it they can match up well defensively while Manu and Diaw run the offense. Hack-a-Bogut should be used heavily as well.

[SnakeBoy]

Offensively, the last thing we need is a whole lot of Kawhi penetrating. He still hasn't figured that out. That's just asking for turnovers or bad decisions on his part.

Doesn't really matter what we think should happen though. What we're going to get is too much Bonner and Beli.

[Darius Bieber]

Tank for draft pick.

[KaiRMD1]

We whipped their ass in the first game this season, they killed us when old sports weren't clicking and in a major slump. GSW does not worry me but they get away with a lot of fn hacking

[ElNono]

Show up. Don't coast.

[aal04]

We have everything we need to win the ring. The biggest issue is lapse in concentration. We switch off every game.

[spurraider21]

if harrison barnes beats us, then harrison barnes beats us. curry's defense has improved, but if good TP shows up, he should still be able to get by him. we also have to avoid relying on duncan down low, as bogut is one of the best duncan defenders in today's league. Splitter has to become a scoring threat

[SanAntonioSpurs23]

Change nothing, Golden State sucks

[jyra]

I would consider giving Boris some time at center (along with Kawhi at PF) if Golden State throws out their smaller lineups with Draymond/David Lee at the 5 or if the offense just can't get going otherwise. GS usually switches a lot of P&Rs so Diaw should be able to get a good matchup to post up against and create from there.

[Old School 44]

Don't look past anyone... Focus on what's in front of you...one series/game at a time.

[Horse]

If they go small make them pay.

[james evans]

guard the 3 point line and bring parker off the bench. His ego is gonna destroy us when curry gets the mvp award.

[cjw]

I don't love the idea of trying to go small when they do. Force that lineup off the floor. You also need to create mismatches which means lineups where Curry is trying to guard Manu.

Unfortunately this isn't a series where Kawhi will be able to do significant work from the post against a small defender unless we force switches.

And lastly, hand down, man down. Inevitably will lead to some fouls on jump shots but better than clean looks.

[SpursFan86]

- You know how Pop manages Kawhi's minutes against LeBron? Like how he basically puts Kawhi in whenever LeBron is on the court, and takes him out as soon as LeBron goes to the bench? I'd like to see Pop do this with Danny and Kawhi. If Curry and Klay are both in the game, Danny and Kawhi should be as well. Obviously it'll be difficult since both Curry/Klay will likely be playing 38-40 mpg, but it's something we have to do. If one of them needs a break, put in Mills or Joseph to guard Curry, and let Kawhi or Green guard Klay.

- One of Green/Kawhi should be on the court at basically all times...even someone like Iguodala can cause a lot of problems if he's being guarded by Belinelli consistently. In fact, this should be the case every series in the playoffs. Having at least one defensive stopper on the court at all times is huge. Fortunately, Pop has been good about this lately it seems. He'll take Danny out fairly early in the 1st, and then bring him back in as soon as Kawhi goes out later on.

- Diaw vs. Draymond isn't a good matchup IMO...Draymond is pretty bulky, and only an inch or so shorter than Diaw. He's one of the best defenders in the league as well. He'll definitely be able to hold his own there. I'm not saying we shouldn't play Boris or anything - just that I don't think he'll be able to exploit Green as well as he does a lot of other guys. Don't think force-feeding him in the post against Draymond is a good idea.

- HOWEVER...if they try putting Draymond on Kawhi and leave someone like Barnes or Iggy on Boris, then we should absolutely go to Boris damn near every time down the court.

- For the love of god, don't post Tim up on Bogut. I mean obviously once or twice is fine, but doing it even remotely consistently is a horrible strategy.

- I've noticed GS plays Lee a lot at center when they go to their bench. Splitter/Diaw post-ups on Lee should be the main course in this case. Wouldn't mind them posting up Speights either.

- I'm fine with forcing them to beat us with Barnes...but in the post. We can't let him get tons of open outside looks. He's been an excellent 3-point shooter this year. Just chase him off the line.

I think we're the only team that has a chance at beating GS tbh. Maybe Cleveland as well. Regardless, it's going to be one hell of a series should we meet.

[testies]

just give the ball to EMANUEL GINOBILI

[DMC]

I'd probably come in through the team entrance each night. In GS I would find out where their team entrance is and approach it that way.

Or I would create a sock puppet on ST and bash the players I don't like.

[bklynspursfan]

We whipped their ass in the first game this season, they killed us when old sports weren't clicking and in a major slump. GSW does not worry me but they get away with a lot of fn hacking

Both games came on the 2nd night of a b2b after playing the Clips the night before and on the road. We'll finally play them at home and not on the 2nd night of a b2b. I think this team can definitely take 1 or 2 in their house. They aren't the same team as 2 years ago, but neither are we. Lot of internal improvement

I will say, Diaw would need to have a big series. He was big in our previous series. He can be a nightmare mismatch, and he has to be aggressive. There would likely be a lot of small ball, so he and Splitter need to play how they've been lately.

[cjw]

If Curry and Klay are both in the game, Danny and Kawhi should be as well. Obviously it'll be difficult since both Curry/Klay will likely be playing 38-40 mpg, but it's something we have to do. If one of them needs a break, put in Mills or Joseph to guard Curry, and let Kawhi or Green guard Klay.

Need to keep both out of foul trouble and hope Green isn't ice cold shooting. If fine on both of those, I see no reason why they shouldn't see the majority of 2/3 minutes (some Kawhi at the 4) with Manu playing the rest of them. This is not a series for Marco to see many minutes at all.

And I agree wholeheartedly with CoJo - if you can't put Green on him, a fresh CoJo is the guy to throw at Curry. If they go with Curry + Livingston together, I'm fine playing two PG as well assuming Parker's not on Curry.

Rotation should look something like:

34 Parker
34 Green
36 Leonard
34 Duncan
28 Splitter
26 Diaw
24 Ginobili
10 Mills
6 Joseph
8 Baynes / Belinelli / Bonner
Dress Ayres in case you want to go hack-a-Bogut, though Bonner is passable at that too

[SpurSwag]

Boris needs to be great, Tony needs to make Steph work, and our shooters need to hit consistently. If those things happen, we'll be OK. And we really need to pray guys like Green and Iggy are off, I don't see any team in the league beating them if those guys consistently hit their 3's at high marks considering how much attention steph and klay get

[ducks]

Use different people on curry try to not be dirty but be physically with him
Run him thru screens on d

[cjw]

Use different people on curry try to not be dirty but be physically with him
Run him thru screens on d

Exactly. If he's not guarding Parker (maybe Green?) you have Danny run around wild to wear him down on off ball screens. If he's guarding Parker, bring in Ginobili and have Parker play away from the ball and you'll still have action to run Curry through.

[Clipper Nation]

1. Superglue Enrique to the bench
2. ???
3. Profit!

[tholdren]

We whipped their ass in the first game this season, they killed us when old sports weren't clicking and in a major slump. GSW does not worry me but they get away with a lot of fn hacking

Yes - This would be the series that Diaw and Splitter show up big and its lights out

[aal04]

fooken simple.

Show them the existence of a quarter between the 2nd and 4th

[baseline bum]

Sweep the leg

[lefty]

Manu will frustrate those bishes with subtle elbows and obvious flops

[MI21]

Manu will frustrate those bishes with subtle elbows and obvious flops

Honestly, that is something that can work again these over sensitive faggots. Manu is a master at that.

[Uriel]

It's too early to be talking about this.

[BillMc]

Show up. Don't coast.

This.

[Chinook]

Draymond can't guard Diaw. That should be obvious to everyone who's been watching. Start Boris and make GS adjust. Duncan will need to be able to hit from outside.

[ezau]

I remember how Diaw abused Draymond in the post back in 2013.

[apalisoc_9]

This is probably the one series that Pop should play a Diaw and Splitter more...

Splitter is great at defending the PnR and Diaw is going to be a match up nightmare for Golden State..

Pop has sat TD multiple times against GSW..Let's see if he does the same in a potential series.

[AaronY]

Hack a Bogut is key.

[cd021]

Wonder how will Pop play the backup PG

Ginobili
Mills
Joseph

GSW will probably go with Livingston-Thompson-Iguadala as their second unit with either Barnes or Lee at the 4 and Speights or even Green at the 5.

Mills or Cojo could get exploited in the post and the Warriors "bigs" can give them enough spacing to allow for their guards to attack mismatches in the post.

Playing Ginobili at the 1 allows for the Spurs to match their size on the wings with any two of (or all 3 in small ball) Belinelli Green and Leonard.