The Golden State Warriors have four All Stars and should expect Klay Thompson to have a big series because of the matchups.
The Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs is the series everyone wanted to see. The greatest coach versus the greatest team and the best defensive team versus the best offensive team. All these subplots make this series the most intriguing of the entire playoffs.
Both teams enter with confidence. The Warriors are 8-0 and haven’t been challenged, whereas the Spurs have played four more games, have lost Tony Parker and dealt with an injury to their best player Kawhi Leonard while still winning games.
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This series will be the ultimate chess match between Greg Popovich and Mike Brown. If the Warriors do miss Steve Kerr, it will now show because Popovich will make adjustments between games that very few coaches can match. Brown, though, has the talent advantage and as long as that talent plays up to the level expected this series should be over in 6 games max.
Though the Warriors have the talent advantage, there’s no guarantee they will march through the Spurs. The Spurs are the one team who can defend the Warriors on the perimeter.
Leonard will check Kevin Durant 24/7, while Danny Green will defend Stephen Curry. Leonard will make Durant work for every point he scores and Green defends Curry better than most people because of his 6’6 frame and 6’10 wingspan.
With Durant and Curry facing a difficult matchups, the guy to watch is Klay Thompson. Thompson will be matched up on Patty Mills because Popovich will want to slow down Curry and Durant as much as possible.
Thompson will have the ability to post Mills up any time he wants. This is the matchup the Warriors should target. Post up Thompson and let him score or force either Lamarcus Aldridge or Pau Gasol to help and then move the ball back around for an open shot.
Popovich can’t take away everything, so he will give the Warriors Thompson and hope to hold Durant and Curry below their respective averages. Whether they do this or not remains to be seen, but it’s a strategy he can employ because he has two elite wing defenders.
If Thompson kills Mills in the post like expected, Pop will probably insert Jonathon Simmons into the starting lineup and have him matchup with Thompson. Simmons is the most athletic Spur and was their second best player against the Houston Rockets.
Even with the perimeter locked down, the Spurs have Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, Javale McGee, David West, Ian Clark and Shaun Livingston to worry about. These other players make the Warriors who they are because without role players they wouldn’t be the favorites for the championship.
Thompson hasn’t played up to his level offensively so far these playoffs and this will be the series to do so because of how the Spurs will be defending Curry and Durant. Thompson needs to remind everyone why he’s regarded as the best shooting guard in the league. If he does this the Warriors will win, however if Thompson continues struggling the series could be problematic.
This is the series the NBA world has been waiting three years for and it’s finally here. These are the two best teams in the Western Conference and the chess match to follow will be something to behold. The Spurs will not make it easy on the Warriors, but the Warriors talent will ultimately prevail.