NBA: 5 Things We Learned From Warriors-Spurs Part 2

1. This Game Means Very Little

The truth is, the Spurs needed this game a hell of a lot more than the Warriors did. Like, really? We’re going to get excited about a win over a Warriors team playing without Andrew Bogut, Andre Iguodala and Festus Ezeli, on the second night of a back-to-back, in the sixth game in nine nights? Come on now.

I won’t go as far as saying this game was completely meaningless, though. Pop’s decision to only play Duncan a grand total of eight minutes could be an indicator of what to expect in a playoff series, or, in a more likely scenario, it could just be Pop’s desire to prevent Steve Kerr from getting a good look at how his Warriors match up with a Duncan-Aldridge frontcourt.

On the Warriors’ end, this loss was little more than a scheduled loss. Curry’s poor shooting and less than enthusiastic body language was troubling, but ultimately it amounts to one bad regular season performance. The Dubs still get the Spurs one more time at Oracle for a revenge game, and despite shooting just 9-for-36 from downtown in this contest, they still had a chance to win — all while being shorthanded and on the road against an elite defensive team that has not lost at home yet.

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There’s comfort in that for the Warriors, while the Spurs can rest easy knowing they took care of business in a game they were supposed to win. But with two more regular season matchups looming, plus a potential seven-game series in the conference finals after that, this second matchup ultimately means as much as their first meeting at Oracle: very little.