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The warriors are posting elite numbers on both ends of the floor, there is no reason to doubt them. You get past the warriors, you repeat. Simple.
Diaw, Leonard and Splitter have to be at their best to beat the warriors.
There is one team to beat in the West and that's the Spurs. The Golden St. Warriors are extremely talented and have played consistent, good baskeball all season but they are NOT playoff tested. We all know the regular season and the postseason are two different animals. We have the personnel to beat them. I can see Bogut fouling out. Splitter AND Tim are too much to handle if Splitter plays like he did against the Hawks.
Green and Leonard give Curry and Thompson fits too. Nah, we're fine. I'm not saying its going to be easy but the Spurs have the complete package. Let's see if Iguodala and Green can beat us. Not going to happen.
I can see Kerr pulling a Pop and resting some of his players by the time the Spurs play the Warriors. They will have the # 1 seed locked up. Why risk his team to injury if its not necessary?
The warriors are posting elite numbers on both ends of the floor, there is no reason to doubt them. You get past the warriors, you repeat. Simple.
Diaw, Leonard and Splitter have to be at their best to beat the warriors.
They need to post elite numbers against the Spurs to win a Championship, which means they need to be at their absolute best to win too. Not worried. It should be a fun matchup. Both Memphis and San Antonio can handle the Dubs.
This playoff tested thing gets a bit overrated. Iggy has appeared in 48 games and has been in the league for decade, Livingston in 24 games, and Bogut has appeared in 17 (he missed something like 8 postseason games due to injury) all of the these guys have been around for a decade and have experience.
Curry, Thompson, Barnes, and Green all have been to the playoffs back to back seasons and have played 17 games. They won on series lost another in game 7 and another in game 6 ( to a team that went to the Finals). They have been playoff tested. Not every team needs to have 6 or 7 guys that have played 50+ playoff games to be good in the playoffs.
Green probably isn't going to be spending a lot of time on Curry with Parker having to cover Barnes. Cross-matching will be difficult to due in this series. Our best bet is for Green and Leonard to contain Barnes and Thompson and force Curry to carry the offense. After Curry and Thompson this team doesn't have a lot of shooting of scoring abilities.
If Bogut does get into foul trouble then Green when possibly slide in at the 5, with a combo of Iggy, Barnes, Livingston and Thompson along with Curry. That unit is one of the Warriors best and the Spurs would have to match down to and have Tim cover Green on the 3pt line. I don't see Tiago and Tim playing alot together this time around. In '13 the were playing like 12 mpg together, that was with Lee and Bogut. I'd expect fewer minutes together and Tiago to spend more time off the bench with the second unit.
Not sure about Memphis, still a terrible shooting team and (Jeff) Green hasn't played very well. Memphis ,in losses, is outscored by an average 18 from the 3pt line. In other words teams hit 6 additional 3's in games that Memphis losses. Really only Lee, Conley, and Carter (who hasn't play very well when health) can hit them on a consistent clip. Its going to be difficult to outscore GSW when they can only get points in the paint and off free throws.
Memphis is a good defensive team so that probably points to the fact that they may of hit 5 or 6 of them while their opponent hits 11 or 12. GSW is a team that can get hot from 3 and force Memphis into playing small ball. If Randolph struggles to cover the pick and pop with Bonner and Parker, Curry and Green isn't going to be a better situation.
Its odd that so many people believe that the Warriors aren't as good as they are. They are #1 in offensive and defensive rating and their net margin of victory almost double the second highest (the Clippers).
They would be the 2nd team (out of 7 teams) in NBA history to not win a le with a net margin above 10.0. The only team that didn't win a championship lost to another team that also have a margin of victory over 10.
Diaw is the X factor in that series. If he can knock down some outside shots and successfully post Green up , that would be huge. Points in the paint are probably going to be hard to come by.
Warriors are trash. Spurs would wreck them.
Who are their 2 elite frontcourt defenders?
The WC is starting to settle. Warriors are the undisputed favorites to win and should get an easy bye in the first round if Ibaka and Durant don't return healthy. Hard to see any team knocking off the Warriors or giving them a tough series other than the Spurs or Grizzlies. But the Grizzlies should hang on to the #2 or 3 seed. So if the Spurs are going to eventually play the Warriors, it really doesn't matter when they do it.
The media coverage is going to be absolutely terrible though. Still remember the 2013 noise meters. Also not a good match up for the Spurs. Thompson will finally put Parker out of his misery, Curry will run circles around Parker, GS got Iguodola and Green to switch on Leonard, GS actually has a bench, and Bogut seems to be finally healthy. Spurs will probably get whacked and the media won't stop gushing about the changing of the guard.
Edit: Actually I take that back. GS will probably be almost impossible to beat in the first 2 rounds. They will still be riding the high of making it to the playoffs as the favorites and have ample experience playing in the first and second round. If the Spurs can beat them, it will probably have to be in the WCF. With less teams and the media coverage only focused on two teams, the pressure will come for GS and hopefully they will crack. Hopefully the Spurs land on the other side of the bracket.
Last edited by 024; 03-23-2015 at 05:44 PM.
Tiago is key to beating GS. I also think you're selling our wings short. Kawhi and Green wreak havoc when motivated.
I'm really hoping for a Durant or at least an Ibaka return.
I think Kanter offensively now has found his game with westbrook..They're a good tandem offensively.
Not enough to beat the warriors though...Durant-Ibaka-Westbrook-Kanter though is a tough matchup for anyone in the league.
It's kinda weird that I'm hoping the thunder would get their guys together before playoff time..
Spurs are the only team in the West that matches up decently with the Warriors IMO, but there is definitely concern in the matchups..Duncan won't be able to play much in the series, unfortunately, as we saw in 2013, it's imperative that Splitter and Diaw are on their games in that series..
Parker will be covering Harrison Barnes, which is fine, the Spurs lived with it in 2013 and while Barnes played well as an individual, it didn't translate to as much team success..however, Parker must dominate offensively if he's going to be on the floor, obviously..Thompson is a pretty overrated defender, though, and he'll tire himself out on offense by covering Parker, if Tony can play well..
The biggest concern is Draymond Green, though, as others have said..he's going to stretch the floor, and he's good enough on D to effectively guard Splitter or Diaw in the post..
Depends which Splitter shows up, vag get stripped by shorter defenders splitter will get wrecked. 7 foot gtfo of my way aggressive splitter would beast.
Playoff tested doesn't just mean getting there, it means getting there and winning. It means finding ways to win a 7 game series and doing it at least 2 or 3 times. This current Warriors squad hasn't even been to the WCF. Coack Kerr can talk all he wants about "pushing through" because he's been there, but until you have actually been battle-tested, its not the same thing.
Diaw will eat Green for dinner. BBQ Chicken down low.
Hopefully..I agree with 024 that the coverage if the Spurs lose would be unbearable, I ing hate the Warriors and their fans, tbh..
It would be an interesting matchup, though, something the Spurs have never seen IMO..their previous challenges were the Thunder(super-athletic, overwhelmed the Spurs with athleticism) and the Lakers(extremely big in the frontcourt + Kobe)..the Warriors are extremely long on the perimeter and quick everywhere with their small-ball, but they don't have any notable athletes outside of Iguodala(no longer a super athlete like in his younger days), they're more reliant on skill and talent..
He may not be as effective on Offense but he'll be on the floor for D and rebounding.
The Warriors series in 2013 was Duncan's worst playoff series in the past 3 years IMO..if you recall, Pop benched him for Splitter down the stretch in that series for defensive purposes, as the Spurs were having trouble defending the perimeter with Tim on the floor..
He may not be as effective on Offense but he'll be on the floor for D and rebounding.
It would be less harmful if Tim was scoring well, but Bogut might be the best Duncan-defender in the NBA right now(Duncan shot 42% from the field in that series)..
He'll still play, obviously, especially if Bogut is hurt, but it would have to be Splitter playing at C in that series for key stretches IMO..Curry is arguably the most difficult player to defend in the NBA right now, he completely carries their offense by drawing a ton of attention(Thompson can score, but he doesn't create much, and he doesn't pass well), Duncan would have trouble guarding the outside..
Damn these s with their mainstream take.
TD is awful defending the PnR..
That's why Pop benched him against GSW.
Just be happy we have Pop who has the guts to bench a HOF for the team's sake..And props to Tim for not whining.,
Rockets just blew a 20-point lead against Indiana, deficit has been cut to 2 points..Houston probably still wins, but let's hope the Spurs can get some help from a mediocre East team
yeah I'm watching the game.
Memphis is also only two points up NY..
I'm obviously of the minority that's still hoping for the 2nd seed and a Memphis collapse to 5th seed..They lose this game, they're playing Lebron, GSW and San Antonio in their next three.
That's 25 loses..
If the spurs can go 12-1 in their next 13.....
Have you looked at the Clippers schedule? It would take a miracle for the Spurs to finish ahead of them, tbh
They Play Memphis, GSW, Portland and @ Suns still..Have you looked at the Clippers schedule? It would take a miracle for the Spurs to finish ahead of them, tbh
Lose two of those and maybe one of the easier games against..@ NY, @ PHI, @BOS, @ DEN @LA
and it's 28 loses...
i agree though, Easy schedule.
the spurs need to finish 11-2 to have a chance.
and just like that..
Both Memphis and Houston up by 10...
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