Golden St. at San Antonio
Time: 8:30 PM CT (ESPN)
Spread: SAS -7
Total: 203
Odds c/o 5dimes
SAN ANTONIO
San Antonio has won three straight after struggling for a stretch. It has dropped eight of its past 10 games and fallen to the No. 7 spot in the West. The Spurs have been without star player Kawhi Leonard for most of the season, and LaMarcus Aldridge has fallen off wherein he was carrying the team for a while in Leonard’s absence. Aldridge shot just 5 of 16 from the field in the most recent 104-94 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Spurs allowed the Thunder to have a plus-7 advantage on the boards while efficiently canning 10 of 28 threes against San Antonio in the game.
The Spurs trademark defense has been flat, and the scoring prowess of an aging Aldridge does not seem to be enough to carry this team through the playoffs if it should even arrive at the 2018 postseason.
The thought of a Gregg Popovich team being lottery-bound barely sounds right, but the Spurs have been aging for some time, and its most youthful superstar, Kawhi Leonard, may never play again in Silver and Black.
While there is little doubt this organization will build its way back to the top, we may be on the verge of seeing a changing of the guard, given that Manu Ginobili and Tony Parker have been reduced to role players, Tim Duncan is retired, and the one the torch was passed to, does not seem interested in carrying it. No one is really certain what is going on with Leonard.
Golden State notes:
The Warriors most recently pummeled Devin Booker and the Phoenix Suns, 124-109. Prior to that, it somehow fell to the Sacramento Kings. The Warriors have lost three of its past five, but are 53-17 and currently second place in the Western Conference.
The Warriors could have sought to improve at the trade deadline, but instead with the “do not fix what has not broken” adage is active in not engaging at the deadline. Instead, the team moves forward with its four All-Stars, and two MVPs, as the prohibitive NBA Finals favorite for the fourth straight season (albeit only two of the previous three resulted in a title!). The Warriors have strung together the most dominant three-run season stretch in NBA history, per wins only, and the fact that the front office realized there is no tinkering with something already balanced was a mature and wise decision overall.
Stephen Curry is leading the team in scoring this year with 26.8 points per game, to go with his 5.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists and 1.62 steals per night. Durant trails him at 26 points per game, but Durant is really close to having a 50/40/90 season, as he is shooting 51 percent from the floor, 42 percent from three and 89 percent at the line. Thompson, too, is close to that precipice but falls shorter at the charity stripe where he is just 86 percent.
Draymond Green is only attempting nine field goals per game, but he leads the team in assists with 7.3 per game, and he is vital in defending a myriad of switched pick and rolls on defense, having the foot speed and agility to switch out onto guards and defend them in the isolation that follows.
Green is one of the best defenders to come through the league in recent seasons, and his stellar ability to disrupt sets is one of the reasons why the Warriors are such a strong defensive team overall. He keeps the defensive lineup active and fast, rather than slowing it down with a traditional 5. Green, of course, starts at center, but he has a lot of positionless traits as an NBA player, and perhaps the league has not seen such a physical specimen with such grace since the late Anthony Mason. Indeed, they are similar type players.
