What exactly will everybody be watching vs. GSW?

[SpurSwag]

3 things I want to see:

1) How Lamarcus plays against Draymond and Bogut. I think a huge key to our success against them depends on Lamarcus being able to punish Draymond when they go to their small ball line up, and hopefully we see some of that tonight.

2) How we defend the Steph-Draymond pick and roll. As I'm sure everyone knows, that is the absolute key to Golden States success and if we can contain it for the most part, we should be fine. I feel they are at their toughest when Draymond is dispalying his full versatility between hitting 3's and geting the ball in the 4-3 situtation that they constantly create through the PnR and whipping to the corners for 3.

3) What Pop decides to do defensively in terms of matchups with Klay, Steph, and Barnes in the starting line up. The more I think about it, the more I think Pop will start with Parker on Curry and see how that works. Because ideally, parker can keep up with Steph which woudl avoid us having to get weird with matchups and having Parker guard barnes.

[gambit1990]

i'm looking forward to seeing our team's demeanor... how aldridge plays in a big game without duncan... always look forward to seeing kawhi, manu. hopefully simmons gets some nasty ass dunk. i'm also interested in how they're gonna guard us.

[Nathan89]

Also want to see GSW's switching plan on defense and how successfully we deal with that.

[Solid D]

I will be watching the Spurs' transition D.

[Chinook]

Also want to see GSW's switching plan on defense and how successfully we deal with that.

Yeah, I want to see how that works against a team that have six legit post players, three of whom are playmakers from that area. The Spurs are the only team I can remember seeing having a post-to-post play where a guy backing down his man passed the ball to another guy backing down his man. Like if you have a mismatch where Kawhi is posting Steph. The Warriors bring Green over to help on that, so Barnes has to sink to cover Green's man LMA. So then Kawhi passes the ball out in a high-low to LMA who's sealed Barnes.

So you have Bogut and Klay trying to zone the perimeter, Curry and Barnes sealed by bigger guys and Green running between them like a chicken with his head cut off. Bogut's to stopping anyone out there, and there's no rim protection at the basket. About as open of a driving lane as you'll see. And even if Draymond forces a miss, you know who's getting that rebound.

[SAGirl]

Personally, the big rotation.
I don't think Pop is being CIA Pop. Tim has looked slower and been off. He hasn't looked right for a few games now. He could probably play but not optimally and if he wasn't going to be optimal in this game, why play him. You can only beat GSW playing your best and he wasn't going to do that at 50%. We'll see a lot of Lamarcus at the 5 probably and he's the one that will need to bring it. We are not winning this game if Lamarcus doesn't play like a star.

After that, athough I don't think he will play, I am curious whether POP will use Anderson for some minutes. He has somewhat of an advantage over other big s like Butler and Bonner in that he can handle switches well and has been good defending the PNR. On the other hand, he has limited experience as a 4. POP has played him more as a perimeter player and he might be overmatched, but if you want to know for sure if he is, this is the game to find out.

[From Downtown]

It will be 5:30 here. My strategy will be to go to bed early and get up for the game rather than staying up all night.

Get the coffee fellows, we can do this! Too big a game to miss.

Yeah I'll do the same
Luckily enough I've been sick the past two days so I won't have to go to school tomorrow (even though I would have watched the game anyway )

[ElNono]

We also are in a tight fight for seeding. It's not like Kawhi is a new defender with new tools, he's the same, curry's the same.

Not really. Last season we were anywhere from 2-6, and generally only picked up the pace after the all star break.

But, we'll see. I'm not saying Tony will pick him up all game (IIRC, Curry plays more minutes), but I think Kawhi/Green coverage on Curry will be sporadic. I could be wrong.

[Chinook]

Not really. Last season we were anywhere from 2-6, and generally only picked up the pace after the all star break.

But, we'll see. I'm not saying Tony will pick him up all game (IIRC, Curry plays more minutes), but I think Kawhi/Green coverage on Curry will be sporadic. I could be wrong.

Yeah, I agree with you. If anything, they'll do it to make it harder for GS to cross-match Klay on Tony. And Parker's defense is streaky, so it could end up being that he plays Curry well.

[quentin_compson]

The clash of styles will be interesting. Who will win the "battle of paces"? Will the Spurs be able to dominate with a big line-up or will it be the other way round?

[SAGirl]

I want to see who the fourth big is going to be. People are assuming it's Boban, and it would be interesting to see him against one of the best benches in the league (if not starting), but I'm kinda hoping it's Anderson with Diaw starting. Kyle is a very good one-on-one scorer, and unless the Warriors put Iggy or Green on him, I think Kyle will have the advantage over his match-up. And he seems to be a good mid-range and post scorer, so it still fits with the Spurs' philosophy to punish small-ball.

And defensively he makes more sense against the Warriors' small-ball. An aggressive hedge against a Curry PnR would allow Anderson to use his length to bother Curry's shot. Sure, Steph probably drives with relative ease, but that's not what he wants to do typically, so if you force him to beat you that way, it gives the team more of a chance to prevent GS from running away with the game. With Kyle being a good shot-blocker and rebounder in his own right, I also don't know if the driving lanes will be more exposed than they would be by having Marjanovic out there.

As to the bolded sentence, if they put Iggy or Green on him, yes he's neutralized but if they prioritize Anderson like that, someone else can have a field day, which makes you think Kerr would rather let Anderson score on his midrange jumpers and post up whoever, which he can do.

Kyle has been good as a 4 with West or Boban. Diaw and him are too similar and undersized to pair up. I think that is where Pop erred against the Lakers. Kyle can play his role if he has a center who will truly box out and occupy space like West did when paired with Kyle against the Cavs.

I completely agree with your post. My concern is how little Pop has played Kyle as a 4 through the season and surprisingly Pop has done that in marquee matches like Cavs and one game against the Grizzlies. He might be the best 4 we have against guys who like to shoot from range, truly spread out bc he can handle switches better than Boban, Bonner, Butler and he can close out on shooter without fouling them or get completely blown out bc he understands angles when you close out. Pop has also had him guarding guards a lot through the season (even PG in garbage time) and as you point out, he has defended Pnr well and he can hedge and recover as well as bother passes and even get deflections or steals bc of his wingspan. His being a-positional is an advantage.

I though he would have been perfect against Ryan Anderson from the Pelicans for example and that game Diaw was absolutely horrific. He might have lost us that game together with Patty' s terrible defense. Kyle did a good job in a few limited minutes on Anderson but Pop didn't trust him at the time, he was in a very short leash early season and Pop stuck with Diaw and he sinked us. Butler wasn't particularly good against Pelicans either. For Butler to help you, he has to be hitting shots and he's streaky.

I know I am the only one here who pays attention to these details, but after that game, Anderson saw minutes at the 4 against Suns and Grizzlies early season bc Diaw was again loafing. After the Ryan Anderson experience, now Pop had little patience with Diaw and he was benched. Against the Cavs, Diaw was not executing on D and we were behind in a close game at home. Anderson again at the 4 and we made a short run. In general Pop wants to stick with Diaw but it's revealing that against truly spread out benches is when we have seen Anderson as a 4 and when we do, Diaw is benched.

Pop's reluctance to split the bench up means we still see Diaw in the bench. And we saw Diaw pair up with Butler and Kyle in the bench and they could not rebound. I think Diaw and Anderson are too similar and to be at their best they need a center. Bc Anderson is the newcomer here, again he will sacrifice for the team. The best pairing is probably Boban/Diaw, unless like you say Pop starts Diaw and pairs West with Kyle. It will be interesting to see how Pop plays them.

[All Mighty Janitor]

-Who they guard Kawhi with; will they mess with their rotations to put Iggy on him? even if they do, can Kawhi punish him.
-will they attack Curry with Parker? if Parker isn't being guarded by Curry (probably will be Klay) will they run green off screens to get curry moving on D?
-Will they move Bogut on to LMA? Will LMA be able to play him in the post?
-Most importantly, will they call the GOD-DAMN MOVING SCREENS. that would be nice.

[UNT Eagles 2016]

i'll be sleeping or something. Not worth watching a loss and then showing up to class groggy, tired AND pissed tomorrow.

[Fireball]

It will be 5:30 here. My strategy will be to go to bed early and get up for the game rather than staying up all night.

Get the coffee fellows, we can do this! Too big a game to miss.

Of course I will sleep before as well, but I guess I will be quite eager for the game and therefore might have some problems to get the necessary sleep ...

[Chinook]

That is certainly an SAGirl special. It has a lot of good insight in it, and it's long as . I wonder what would happen if Kyle started for Duncan. Would it encourage the Warriors to go to micro-ball (Green at C)? If so, I think it's Drive-and-Kick City with a couple of stops to refill on post-ups. If not, then it almost completely eliminates the issues with using Kawhi on Draymond, and the Spurs would still have better rim-protection out there. In the very least, it would be fun to watch.

[Nathan89]

It will be interesting to see if Pop puts Green on Curry and Kawhi on Draymond. It would be similar to what he did against the Thunder in the 2014 WCF. It would be Pop essentially saying, "Okay, you can try doing the 1/4 PnR all you want, but then you're just going to be putting Kawhi on Steph."

There aren't really any good ways to counter that. GS could just go one-on-one, but Curry already knows Green can guard him in iso situations. They could post Draymond up on Leonard, but as we all know, Kawhi's actually a good post defender, and letting Draymond fill up on post attempts is a great way to force the Warriors the slow the pace and lower their efficiency. Running a 1/3 or 1/2 PnR makes it even more obvious that switching is the right choice. A 1/5 is harder to switch, but you don't fear the center roaming nearly as much, even though Bogut is a good passer for a big. So then you just have mismatches in Parker on Klay and LMA/West on Barnes. And so long as the Spurs cover up the three-point line, neither of those guys is going to beat you by themselves.

Besides helping to nullify the pnr which is the start of GSW offense it will also make it more difficult for Green to stand at the top of the key looking for cutters and Curry and Klay running around screens for open threes. Kawhi will be able to pressure him and he'll probably end up turning his back towards the basket.

I doubt Pop will try this on the first game though.

[TrainOfThought5]

Kyle anderson, boban and simmons.

[DAF86]

I would like to see if Pop will match Golden State's smallball or will try to punish them by staying big.

[Seventyniner]

I also want to see if Pop will send 2-3 guys (Aldridge, Leonard, West in that order) to the offensive glass. It might seem suicidal to potentiall give up a lot of fast-break points, but it's a good way to counter a small lineup and can even help on transition if the Warriors have to have 4 guys in the paint on defense as soon as the shot goes up.

[YGWHI]

Why is everybody saying this though? Pop put Kawhi on Curry's ass last april.

IIRC Pop didn't put Kawhi on Curry all that game, at least not in the first half.

[YGWHI]

It will be interesting to see if Pop puts Green on Curry and Kawhi on Draymond. It would be similar to what he did against the Thunder in the 2014 WCF. It would be Pop essentially saying, "Okay, you can try doing the 1/4 PnR all you want, but then you're just going to be putting Kawhi on Steph."

There aren't really any good ways to counter that. GS could just go one-on-one, but Curry already knows Green can guard him in iso situations. They could post Draymond up on Leonard, but as we all know, Kawhi's actually a good post defender, and letting Draymond fill up on post attempts is a great way to force the Warriors the slow the pace and lower their efficiency. Running a 1/3 or 1/2 PnR makes it even more obvious that switching is the right choice. A 1/5 is harder to switch, but you don't fear the center roaming nearly as much, even though Bogut is a good passer for a big. So then you just have mismatches in Parker on Klay and LMA/West on Barnes. And so long as the Spurs cover up the three-point line, neither of those guys is going to beat you by themselves.

Against the Thunder Pop put Kawhi on Westbrook to prevent the 1-3 pick and roll but both, Westbrook and Durant were guys Kawhi had defended successfully before in regular season games.

For the same reason Pop won't post Kawhi against Green, I wouldn't put Kawhi defending him, those two situations aren't favorable Spurs matchups.

[YGWHI]

1). How the Spurs will primarily defend the curry-green PNR. Do they hard hedge and try to recover? Do they switch and force to beat you? Do they trap and let green dictate the play?

2). How successful the Spurs will be in stopping transition plays?

3). Can they establish the post with LMA/Diaw/Kawhi and play inside out effectively?

4). How do they match up defensively with golden state's death lineup?

5). Can our bench outplay theirs? Their main x-factor is Iggy's energy, defense, and outside shooting. I want to see the Spurs neutralize him.

6). I am interested in seeing who Kerr has Curry guard. We have to go at him and tire him out. It likely will be Parker or Green. If he's on Parker, he has to take advantage. Multiple David West screens are what I want to see. If he's on Green, then run him through multiple screens. Making him play defense will be key.

[Nathan89]

Spurs are going to miss Cojo in this game.

[Chinook]

Against the Thunder Pop put Kawhi on Westbrook to prevent the 1-3 pick and roll but both, Westbrook and Durant were guys Kawhi had defended successfully before in regular season games.

For the same reason Pop won't post Kawhi against Green, I wouldn't put Kawhi defending him, those two situations aren't favorable Spurs matchups.

I mean, Lebron is quite a bit bigger than Draymond and more athletic. I don't really think Draymond has any physical advantage over Kawhi, seeing as they're both 6-7, 229 officially. If that's not a match-up Kawhi can win, then I don't think he's an all-time defender. I do think he is, so I'm good with trying it. But I hope the Warriors agree with you and scrap their offense to let Draymond try to win the game by backing down Leonard. I really hope they do. And it should be obvious to you that the Spurs don't dictate whether Green guards Leonard. So unless you're saying that you expect Kawhi to not post up in this game, I don't know what you're going to expect.

[YGWHI]

I mean, Lebron is quite a bit bigger than Draymond and more athletic. I don't really think Draymond has any physical advantage over Kawhi, seeing as they're both 6-7, 229 officially. If that's not a match-up Kawhi can win, then I don't think he's an all-time defender.

More subtle? I wonder why I'm not surprised at all. Sure, you said "I do think he is, so I'm good with trying it"

And it should be obvious to you that the Spurs don't dictate whether Green guards Leonard. So unless you're saying that you expect Kawhi to not post up in this game, I don't know what you're going to expect.

Kerr will put Green on Kawhi all game? I expect Harrison to draw the assignment of guarding Kawhi...I'll enjoy to watch Kawhi posting over Barnes if Pop gives him that chance.

The "whole" post.

I mean, Lebron is quite a bit bigger than Draymond and more athletic. I don't really think Draymond has any physical advantage over Kawhi, seeing as they're both 6-7, 229 officially. If that's not a match-up Kawhi can win, then I don't think he's an all-time defender. I do think he is, so I'm good with trying it. But I hope the Warriors agree with you and scrap their offense to let Draymond try to win the game by backing down Leonard. I really hope they do. And it should be obvious to you that the Spurs don't dictate whether Green guards Leonard. So unless you're saying that you expect Kawhi to not post up in this game, I don't know what you're going to expect.