5. Strength of the Big Men
The acquisitions of LaMarcus Aldridge and David West last summer resulted in more of a reason to deem the San Antonio front office as one of the best in the game’s history. West turned down an $11 million offer from the Pacers to join the Spurs for the veteran’s minimum because of the chance of winning a championship.
In this particular series, it’ll be difficult to play two bigs at once considering Draymond Green will be playing power forward and sometimes even the center position. Asking one of them to constantly guard Green on the perimeter will be a recipe for disaster, but if they are able to slow the game down, the strength of San Antonio’s bigs will overwhelm Golden State.
Andrew Bogut is a big, strong body for the Warriors inside, but Duncan, Aldridge or West would certainly have the advantage offensively in that matchup. In the first meeting this season, Duncan was a DNP, and while West saw some success finishing with 12 points on eight shots, Aldridge wasn’t a factor as he finished with five points.
Again, taking this one game to determine the future series would be the wrong thing to do with the players of the Spurs’ intelligence.
Next: Mental Strength