26 Oct. 2016- Truly a great all around team performance by the 2014 NBA Champs. The San Antonio Spurs ruined Kevin Durant‘s highly anticipated debut with the Golden State Warriors. Taking a page out of last year’s Warrior team, the Spurs used their depth to overcome the ‘super team’ that is the Warriors. Not to take anything away from main men Kawhi Leonard, and LaMarcus Aldridge who combined for 61 of the Spurs 129 points.
Leave it to none other than Coach Gregg Popovich to expose the weaknesses in your team. Not to say signing Durant was a bad choice, but Golden State lost several key pieces to do so. They desperately missed the rebounding, and rim protection of both Andrew Bogut, and Festus Ezili. The spark Leandro Barbosa used to bring off the bench is gone too, and despite being the obvious better overall player, Durant is no Harrison Barnes on defense. Simply said, just like the Knicks, the Warriors have things they need to work on. This is a brand new team for Steve Kerr, and with that come kinks that need to be ironed.
The Warriors will be back to their dominant ways soon enough, they just happen to run into a Spurs that were keen on sending a message to the league. That message being that they are right there with last years finalists on contending for a title. However, if there was a blueprint on how to defend against the Warriors, we saw it last night. It wasn’t anything complex, it was just constant hustle, constant pressure, and high-IQ basketball. San Antonio may have also found a gem of the bench in Jonathon Simmons, who finished with 20 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists, in 28 minutes. Fantasy players out there may want to keep an eye on him.
San Antonio travel to Sacramento on Thursday to play the DeMarcus Cousins, and the Kings in their new Golden 1 Center. Another debut they will more than likely ruin. Steph Curry, and Golden State start their 3-game road trip with a stop in New Orleans on Friday to face Anthony Davis, and his Pelicans. Barring an upset, one would expect the 2015 NBA Champions to grab their first win of the season at Smoothie King Center.
Article by: Nick Husni
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