Warriors Should Bench Starters vs. Spurs

The Golden State Warriors should rest their starters against the San Antonio Spurs.

Gregg Popovich is, in my opinion, the greatest coach in basketball history.

His records and accomplishments speak for themselves. Sure, having guys like David Robinson and Tim Duncan around never hurts, but all of Pop’s five championship teams have been extremely well-coached. One of his greatest strengths is his ability to adapt. The dominant Spurs teams he was leading over a decade ago are constructed completely differently than the ones that have dominated this decade. Unlike many of his peers and colleagues, Pop has been willing to change with the times and implement new strategies and systems to keep staying on top.

Popovich isn’t just a basketball coach, he’s a chess master. He’s always several steps ahead of his opponents. And that’s where Pop truly excels. He’s an expert at playing mind games, winning battles before they’re even fought.

That’s why Steve Kerr, a protege of the great Spurs coach, should “pull a Pop.”

In other words, when the Golden State Warriors visit San Antonio on Saturday, they should rest most, if not all, the starters. It would be taking a page right out of Popovich’s book who loves to do just that. In a highly anticipated, nationally televised matchup with LeBron James and the Miami Heat, the Spurs head coach sent Duncan, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, and Danny Green home to rest them. Then-Commissioner David Stern fined Popovich for doing so.

There’s a practical reason the Warriors should do this, of course. Their game in San Antonio will be on the back end of a back-to-back. Golden State’s non-Stephen Curry slump hasn’t really allowed them to get the rest Kerr would like over the last few weeks. Some Warriors are ailing right now. Andre Iguodala has been sidelined for some time now and Andrew Bogut injured his toe against the Dallas Mavericks. With the playoffs right around the corner, the Warriors want to be as fresh as possible as they look to defend their title.

But Golden State could benefit psychologically as well.

The Warriors will be without two of their top players on the second game of the back-to-back on the road. The defending champions already defeated the Spurs by 30 at home. With the record on the line, resting key players is an assertion of superiority. San Antonio would seem to have an advantage over Golden State in this one and would surely extend their perfect home winning streak. By resting the starters, the Warriors don’t give the Spurs the satisfaction of beating a complete team.

Furthermore, the Warriors don’t show their hand against a potential Western Conference Finals foe. Both Kerr and Popovich are intelligent basketball minds that always have something up their sleeve. San Antonio is a fantastic home team and letting them avenge their lopsided loss would only give them more confidence moving forward. Taking someone’s trademark move and executing it wonderfully against them is demoralizing. The Warriors could build a psychological edge against a seemingly unflappable team.

Kerr said that he probably won’t sit them. He also said he wasn’t going to make any changes to the starting lineup against the Cavaliers in the Finals so he isn’t the most honest man in the world.

The Warriors haven’t won a regular season game in San Antonio since 1997 and, while they could try to snap it, they shouldn’t. Resting their starters would be beneficial to the team, both in the short and long term. But I imagine telling Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, and Steph Curry to sit out a game against an elite team is probably just as difficult as actually playing the game.