NBA: 5 Things We Learned From Warriors-Spurs Part 2
What did we learn from the second meeting between the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs? Here are the five biggest takeaways.
In the middle of the 2016 NCAA Tournament and spring training baseball, one Mar. 19 sporting event had been circled on sports fans’ calendars around the country for weeks now: Golden State Warriors at San Antonio Spurs in a battle of the NBA’s two most unstoppable juggernauts.
In the second meeting of an unstoppable force and an immovable object, the Spurs emerged victorious, holding on for an 87-79 final score to remain a perfect 35-0 at home this season. The loss dropped the Warriors to 62-7, which means they’ll have to win 11 of their remaining 13 games to break the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls’ regular season record of 72-10.
The victory was huge for the Spurs, not only from a confidence standpoint, but because the Warriors were playing without starting center Andrew Bogut, sixth man Andre Iguodala and backup center Festus Ezeli. With the Dubs going small, Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich opted to start Boris Diaw over Tim Duncan, limiting the face of the franchise to eight minutes on the night.
LaMarcus Aldridge led the way for San Antonio with 26 points and 13 rebounds, while Kawhi Leonard chipped in 18 points, 14 rebounds and four assists. Stephen Curry struggled for the Dubs, finishing with 14 points, six assists and six rebounds on 4-of-18 shooting, including 1-for-12 from three-point range. Klay Thompson had 15 points on 7-of-20 shooting (1-for-7 from downtown).
It’s only one regular season game, but what did we learn in this second meeting between two NBA juggernauts? Here are the five biggest takeaways that could be relevant come playoff time.
Next: No. 5