NBA: What To Watch For In Warriors vs. Spurs, Part 1

In tonight’s highly anticipated NBA showdown between the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs, here’s a quick guide of what to watch for.

You could hardly be blamed if a defensive struggle between the Denver Broncos and New England Patriots wasn’t your cup of tea over the weekend, just as watching the Carolina Panthers slaughter the Arizona Cardinals for three and a half hours was similarly unentertaining.

The NFL has never been more undesirable as an entertainment product, but luckily for NBA fans, tonight’s highly anticipated showdown between the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs might be even more enticing than this year’s Super Bowl matchup.

While the prospect of a 39-year-old Peyton Manning taking on a Panthers franchise that came out of nowhere this season may excite some, Monday’s matchup between the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs features the two undisputed top teams — by a mile — in their sport.

Stephen Curry. Kawhi Leonard. Draymond Green. LaMarcus Aldridge. This game is teeming with exhilarating matchups, from head coaches all the way down to two of the best benches in the NBA. Make no mistake about it: This is the most highly anticipated game of the 2015-16 NBA season so far.

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Basketball fans have been looking forward to this night for months now. The defending champion Warriors have raced out to a sublime 40-4 record, putting them on pace for a record-breaking 74-win season. The Spurs, meanwhile, are on their own record-setting pace, with a 38-6 mark that puts them on track for nearly 71 wins and as they sit a mere two games behind Golden State in the standings.

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The Dubs are coming off a 67-win season, an NBA championship and an MVP Award for Stephen Curry. They’re the NBA’s best offense by a mile, leading the league in points per game (114.7), offensive rating (112.7 points per 100 possessions), three-point percentage (42.4 percent), made three-pointers (12.8 per game), assists per game (28.9) and assist percentage (68.9).

The Spurs are the NBA’s best defense by an equally wide margin, leading the league in defensive rating (93.5 points per 100 possessions) and ranking second in opponent field goal percentage (42.6 percent). Both teams are elite on the other ends of the floor as well, with San Antonio leading the NBA in field goal percentage and point differential, while the Dubs are the NBA’s third ranked defense.

These are the only two teams in the NBA to rank in the top three for both offensive and defensive efficiency, they have the two best records in the league, quite possible the NBA’s top two MVP candidates and they’re both undefeated at home (the Spurs are 24-0 while the Dubs are 20-0). Golden State has the better overall record, but a case could be made for either team being the best in the NBA right now.

Follow that line of thinking and it’s only logical that a head-to-head matchup is the only way to decide for sure. But even though tonight’s Warriors vs. Spurs tilt is easily the biggest game in the NBA so far this season, it’s just one of 82 games for both teams and should be treated as such.

For one thing, nothing in the regular season matters when the playoffs arrive. Will a Jan. 24 matchup matter come June? Unless the Spurs wind up overtaking the Warriors for the No. 1 seed and home-court advantage, absolutely not.

For another thing, this is the first of four regular season meetings between the Dubs and Spurs, so unless the Oklahoma City Thunder take a giant leap over the coming months, we’ll be getting at least three more regular season contests and then four more showdowns between these teams in May, most likely in the Western Conference Finals.

But most important of all, with all the hype heading into this game, you can be guaranteed the hot takes and overreactions will be out in full force no matter who wins.

If San Antonio wins, all hell will break loose amongst the ever-indignant Spurs fans that are still trapped in 2003, when their team wasn’t given the proper respect for its winning ways and was constantly mislabeled as “boring.”

That one regular season win will add fuel to their “We’re always slighted!” fire while also moving the Spurs within one game of the league-leading Dubs. With Tim Duncan sitting out (knee soreness) and the game being in Oakland, you can be guaranteed the slander about how the Warriors are overrated will be ignited as well.

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And remember all those narratives about how Golden State got “lucky” they didn’t have to face the Spurs in last year’s playoffs? Those will all come roaring back, even if the Spurs were beaten by the team that was beaten by the team that eventually lost to the Dubs in five games in the Western Conference Finals last year.

If Golden State wins, perhaps we’ll see a more reasonable reaction since they’re still on top of most people’s NBA Power Rankings, but the sense of invincibility among Warriors Twitter might reach nauseating new highs. Without Duncan in the lineup, Spurs fans will dismiss a loss as meaningless, especially since it’d be on the road.

The point is that no matter who wins this game, each fan base will justify it however they like and continue to pledge their allegiance to the team they believe will be representing the West in the NBA Finals this June.

And that’s okay; sports would be no fun if you weren’t allowed to cheer for your favorite team and celebrate when they achieve a monumental victory, which is exactly what Monday’s game will be for the winning side. I don’t mean to take anything away from the anticipation of this matchup, since I’m probably as excited about it as anyone.

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But as exhilarating as Warriors vs. Spurs Part 1 will be, let’s all take a deep breath and recognize that this one result is not the end-all, be all. If the Spurs lose, they’re still a damn good team that could knock off the Warriors a few months from now. If the Warriors lose, they’re still a damn good team that could just as easily repeat as NBA champions.

Because to be perfectly honest, if and when these teams could play an inevitable best-of-seven series in late May, I still don’t think we’ll know for sure who the better team is by the end of it.