Sunday’s game 4 of the Golden State Warriors vs San Antonio Spurs series was yet another contest which left us scratching our heads. In a lot of ways, the way everything transpired defied logic. Stephen Curry was clearly hurt, yet he managed to muster enough mobility to still be effective and stretch the floor for the Warriors. Even though they are banged up, the Warriors are still fighting. With this type of effort, have they perhaps even become the favorites to win the series?
I was going through some NBA news this morning and noticed a poll on NBA.com. The question was simple — who will advance to the Western Conference finals? As I cast my vote on the Spurs, the results popped up and I was slightly surprised. At the time of writing this, Golden State holds 60% of the votes and is the favorite to advance, at least in the eyes of the public.
But why was I surprised? The Warriors have already taken two games off the Spurs, and if not for a game 1 collapse, they could very well be up 3-1 at this point. I’ll be honest, having watched every game of this series, I have felt like swapping my initial pick so many times.
This series has been so up and down that it’s hard to know what to make of it. At some points, the Spurs look like they’re washed up and can’t possibly match the quickness and energy of these young Warriors. Then again, at other times, San Antonio looks like a savvy group of veterans who are not prone to collapse the way Golden State has several times in these playoffs. It’s a close call.
For most of game 4, it felt as though the Spurs ran the Warriors off the 3-point line, yet Curry’s individual numbers in the box score stare right at you — 5 of 10 from beyond the arc on a bad ankle.
It’s not secret that the Warriors 3-point shooting had messed up San Antonio’s defense. Kawhi Leonard is forced to come off Harrison Barnes in order to chase Klay Thompson and Curry around the perimeter. This has left Tony Parker isolated against Barnes in the post an unhealthy amount of time. When Golden State goes small, sometimes by putting Carl Landry or even Draymond Green at the center position, San Antonio’s lineups naturally get disarranged. Needless to say, Tim Duncan is as far from an elite perimeter defender as they come.
There is no doubt that Golden State has been the Cinderella story of these playoffs. After starting the season strong, they declined towards the end of the year, and few saw them coming out of the first round. Yet here they are, finding themselves in a best of three series with the Spurs, considered to be the favorites in the public domain. It’s baffling to say the least.
I’ll stick with my Spurs pick for now, but I don’t feel that good about it. I still think San Antonio has been the more stable team, fending off the Warriors’ scoring spurts with little runs of their own. Even so, Golden State can give the Spurs — heck, any team — matchup problems and they are so hard to guard. They are also underrated defensively, which is something Mark Jackson made a point of emphasis when he took over the team. At the end of the day, this series could boil down to which starting point guard is healthier.
Many want to see the Cinderella story live on in the Western Conference finals, but will it? What do you make of this series? Let us know in the comment section below.
Vytis covers the NBA for FanSided. You can follow him on Twitter here: @VytisLasaitis