If the Golden State Warriors’ recent history against San Antonio
wasn’t grotesque enough, their first meeting of the new season came
at a time when the Spurs have been playing arguably the best
basketball in the NBA.
OAKLAND
If the Golden State Warriors’ recent history against San Antonio wasn’t grotesque enough, their first meeting of the new season came at a time when the Spurs have been playing arguably the best basketball in the NBA.
Predictably, things did not go so well Tuesday night for Golden State against its Texas nemesis. The Spurs kept their unbeaten road record intact at 8-0 with a methodical 118-98 victory at Oracle Arena, which was also their ninth straight win over Golden State dating back to 2008.
Nobody’s been tougher on the Warriors than the Spurs over the past decade or so. The Warriors are a hideous 7-42 against San Antonio in the Tim Duncan era dating back to 1997, and of course, have lost 24 consecutive games on the Spurs’ home floor over that same period.
This latest defeat was the Warriors’ fourth straight in Oakland to coach Gregg Popovich’s club.
If there’s any consolation for the Warriors, the Spurs are beating up on everybody this season, running out to an NBA-best 15-2 start. They lost their second game of the season at home to New Orleans, then ran off 12 wins in a row. They lost to Dallas at home Friday but now have started another two-game streak on the road.
Wait a minute, wasn’t this San Antonio team supposed to be getting old and decrepit? They certainly didn’t look like graybeards on this night. Duncan posted his third career regular-season triple-double (he has four in the postseason) with 15 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists, and he added two blocks for good measure. Manu Ginobili, who’s off to a fabulous start this season, poured in 27 points and added five steals, six rebounds and three assists.
And as usual, the Spurs got solid contributions from a number of other players on their deep roster to overwhelm the undermanned Warriors, who were led by Stephen Curry’s 32 points.
After forging a 58-48 halftime lead, the Spurs led by double digits throughout the second half except for a few brief moments early in the third quarter when the Warriors cut it to eight. But San Antonio pulled away again and went on a five-point run capped by a Ginobili three-point play for a 19-point lead (87-68) with 1:39 to play in the period. The Warriors never got closer than 12 the rest of the way.
About the only real moment of second-half drama came with 3:03 left in the third period when Richard Jefferson jammed home an alley-oop dunk off a pass from Duncan. Jefferson hung on the rim after the dunk and swung his legs over the shoulders of Warriors forward David Lee, who took exception to Jefferson’s extracurricular antic. The two squared off and there was some minor shoving, but there were no punches thrown and order was quickly restored, with each player receiving a technical.
The Spurs controlled much of the first half, as well, jumping out to a 17-9 first-quarter lead behind some gorgeous plays by Ginobili, including a sweet give-and-go to backcourt mate Tony Parker driving to the basket and a smooth jumper off a Duncan screen.
The Warriors hung tough and chipped away, however, actually grabbing a 24-23 lead with 2:10 in the opening quarter on a Dorell Wright reverse layup off a pass from Monta Ellis. Curry made it 26-23 when he sank a long jumper on the Warriors’ next possession.
The Spurs tied it on a Gary Neal 3-pointer, then after a Curry 3-point miss, Ginobili was fouled by Ellis on a 3-point attempt with 3.7 seconds left in the quarter. Adding insult to injury, Ellis received a technical foul from referee Tony Brothers after he slapped his hands together after the foul call. Ginobili made all four free throws and the Spurs had a 30-26 advantage after a quarter.
The Spurs steadily built on that lead in the second quarter, bumping it to as much as 12 on a Jefferson alley-oop dunk with 4:53 left in the half. San Antonio still led by 12 inside a minute when DeJuan Blair scored underneath, but Curry buried a 22-footer to cut it to 10 and missed a driving layup in the final seconds that would have gotten it to single digits.
— Story by Carl Steward, The Oakland Tribune
