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The defending champions, Golden State Warriors, have had a roller coaster ride throughout the season. The Warriors started their season on a high, but as the season progressed, the Warriors stumbled down the stretch being hampered by injuries to all their key players. It even reached to a situation where all their 4 All-Stars were out suffering from injuries which appeared to create a general sense of apathy on the part of the players and the coaching staff. Even after being shorthanded to start these playoffs, the 2017 NBA Champions still have enough firepower to get through the first round.
The San Antonio Spurs might have had one of the weirdest seasons in the past two decades. Head coach Greg Popovich has 5 champions under his belt, but this still might be one of the best seasons of this coaching career. With arguably having no perennial All-Star on their roster, Popovich has somehow managed take the Spurs to the 7th Spot in a very tough Western Conference and has once again shown why he is considered one of the greatest coaches of All-Time.
In this piece, we break down for you the specifics of this exciting first-round series from the Western Conference playoffs.
#1 Strengths
Golden State Warriors
The way the Warriors move the ball around, look to willingly pass the ball and find the easiest possible shot makes them deadly on the offensive end. Combining that with the offensive prowess of Kevin Durant and one of the best shooters in the history of the game with Klay Thompson, the Warriors are still one of the best offenses in the NBA even without Steff Curry.
The Dubs are number one in the league in assist percentage of 68.5 with an assist ratio of 21.1 averaging almost 30 assists per game. They also lead the league in Effective Field Goal Percentage and Three-point shooting percentage with 56.9 percent and 39.1 respectively and thus having the best offensive rating of 112.3 per game in the league.
This is pretty impressive considering the fact that the Warriors have had to deal with a multitude of injuries this season. Not to mention the fact that the Warriors have gone through this process already three times in last 3 years and therefore know how to win a playoff series.
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs have the 4th best defensive rating with 102.4 in the league. They are one of the top rebounding teams in the league with an offensive rebound percentage of 23.7. San Antonio Spurs can use their size and length to create problems for the Warriors on the boards.
The Spurs have a very deep roster with a good mix of young talented players and vetran players headed by one of the best coaches of all time.
#2 Weaknesses
Golden State Warriors
In their last 10 games of the season, the Warriors’ defense has unraveled, allowing 109.9 points per 100 possessions, which ranked 28th in the league in that span. With Curry out of the picture, surprisingly Warriors defense rather than their offense has taken a hit, especially in the past few games.
Granted that the Warriors were not always putting forth their best players in the final games of the season, but this has become a bad habit for them now. Speaking of bad habits, the Warriors have a tendency of turning the ball over too many times allowing the opposition team with easy baskets. They have a turnover percentage of 15.3 which is the 3rd most in the league.
San Antonio Spurs
The biggest problem for the Spurs is going to be their offense. With limited scoring options, it is going to be very difficult for the Spurs to match up with the Warriors' offense. With Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili at the later stages of their career, the only option that the Spurs have is throwing the ball in the low post and exploiting the interior defense of the Warriors.
#3 Opportunities and threats
Golden State Warriors
The Warriors ended the season losing 6 of their last 9 regular season games which included a 40 point loss to the Utah Jazz in the last match of the season. The Dubs have looked out of sorts without their leader and 2 time MVP in Steff Curry. This will be a perfect time for Kevin Durant to prove that he is one of the best players in the league and show that he can lead these Curry-less Warriors, which he hasn't done so far.
San Antonio Spurs
We have seen that the Warriors struggles against teams that slow down the game instead of trying to match up with the pace of the Warriors. The best examples will be the 2015 Memphis Grizzlies and the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers. The San Antonio Spurs have a chance to use their size and length and try and dominate the boards to create second-chance opportunities for them and dictate the pace of the game.
With good post up players in LaMarcus Aldridge, Pau Gasol and Rudy Gay, the Spurs can exploit the interior defense and try to tire them down as the game progresses.
#4 X-Factor
Golden State Warriors - Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant is one of the best players on the planet right now and is an offensive juggernaut. He has quietly put together another stellar season just like last year averaging 26.4 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists while making 51.6 percent from the field and 41.9 percent from the 3-point line (he shot 88.9 percent from the foul line, leaving him five free throws short of the coveted 50-40-90 threshold).
Multiple bodies in Danny Green, Kyle Anderson, and Rudy Gay are expected to be thrown at the 2017 Finals MVP, but with Kawhi (two-time defensive player of the year) out Durant should be able to exploit anyone the Spurs has to offer.
San Antonio Spurs - Gregg Popovich
Greg Popovich has had one of the best seasons of his career as the head coach of the San Antonio Spurs, taking this team to the playoffs. But without Leonard's two-way excellence, head coach Greg Popovich is going to have to put on a master class of coaching, which he is quite capable of, to create some sort of magic to have any chance to defeat this Warriors team 4 times in 7 matches.
#5 Prediction
Golden State is much better set up to handle the absence of Curry than the Spurs are to handle the absence of Kawhi Leonard. It is remarkable, in fact, that this team somehow was able to win 47 games with 24 different starting lineups. That’s a testament to coach Gregg Popovich, who will face one of his proteges, Steve Kerr, in this series.
With Steph Curry out, the Warriors couldn't have asked for a better matchup considering the other teams in the Western Conference. If Kawhi Leonard was playing, this series would have played out much more evenly than now. In the end, the Warriors just have too much firepower for the San Antonio Spurs to overcome.
Warriors beat the Spurs 4-1
