Pregaming: Spurs vs. Warriors Game 2

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AT&T CENTER — The San Antonio Spurs come back for Game 2 of the Western Conference Semifinals with a full roster for the first time in a while, which should be a blessing after going two overtimes just two nights ago. That, and some other notes from pregame:

  • The biggest news coming from pregame is that Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich announced that Tiago Splitter is fit to play in Game 2 against the Warriors. Splitter will come off the bench and Boris Diaw will start alongside Tim Duncan. When asked about the health status of both Splitter and Duncan, who had battled a flu bug in Game 1, Pop said “They’re good to go.”
  • Pop conceded that there are some tough decisions to make regarding how to use Tony Parker defensively. Stephen Curry is a tough cover for anyone in the league and the Spurs will probably want to put Kawhi Leonard on him for more minutes in Game 2 than in Game 1. That makes it tough to decide where to put Parker when Jarrett Jack is out of the game, Klay Thompson or Harrison Barnes, both of whom have several inches on Parker. According to Pop, the Spurs will mix up their defenses and whether or not they double should Parker be posted up by a bigger player.
  • Rest and minutes were a hot topic during Warriors head coach Mark Jackson’s pregame press conference. “There’s more than enough time to rest you body,” Jackson said about all the downtime between games for players like Steph Curry and Andrew Bogut to take advantage of. Expect Curry to again play big minutes in Game 2, though getting to 58 is probably unlikely. “[The Spurs] system allows us to play Steph where he’s guarding a guy who’s a spot-up shooter,” Jackson said, probably referring to Danny Green and Gary Neal. Jackson added that they’ll use those specific matchups to allow Curry to take some plays off on the defensive end.
  • It was announced on Wednesday that Denver Nuggets head coach George Karl is the NBA’s Coach of the Year. Gregg Popovich, last year’s winner, finished fourth in the voting. “It’s at the house,” Pop replied when asked what he did with the trophy he won last year. “It’s with the rings somewhere, I guess. I don’t see it much.” I’m disappointed, to be honest. I was hoping Pop melted it down and used the metal to make a sword or something, Ron Swanson-style.
  • Graham

    A bit much to ask to stop both Curry AND Thompson when they get ultra hot……..let’s hope Game 3 turns better.

  • idahospur

    Won against a 44 point Curry show, but 8-9 for deep for Thompson was ridiculous. Lets take Game 3!

  • JT

    our defense is bad, we need to stay with their shooters, we give them too much space. Also where the heck are our shooters. Diaw, shoot the darn ball sometimes, he pisses me off sometimes.

    Stop shooting 3s, they will not fall, we need to be wide open to make 3s and they will not give them to us.

    It will be a miracle if these Spurs make it out of this series.

  • td4life

    Can’t. Hit. Shots.

  • DooDooJump

    As a dual-fan, I’d say that the Spurs still have the advantage. And they can make 3’s. The Spurs just didn’t land a lot of the easy 3’s that they had (see Leonard, Kawhi).

    That said, the Warriors have Curry/Jack/Thompson/Barnes, and the Spurs have to put Kawhi on either Curry or Thompson, leaving one of Diaw/Splitter/Parker stuck on Jack or Barnes, and that’s leaving out the time when Neal/Joseph are on the floor. If Green/Parker/Manu can’t handle whichever guy Leonard isn’t covering, it’s going to be trouble.

    The real killer here was Jack making a bunch of awful, awful shots in the 4th. There’s no answer for that, really, because you can’t really ‘spend’ more defensive pressure on him. But you can expect that they stop falling at some point.

  • neverthehero

    Why start Bonner? Is something wrong with Diaw? Might be in the doghouse? And why Start Bonner if you are only going to have him shoot once. It’s nights like these that too much thought goes in to trying to out smart people. Except for that dumb 3 at the end of the third with so much time on the shot clock. Would have won the game I believe if it either stayed at 8 or went down more instead of the 11 point deficit.

  • neverthehero

    It’s rarely our guys that get that hot though. PoP needs to once in awhile tell one of his players outside of Manu, look I need a 30 point game out of you. Sky’s not falling but holy cow it would be nice for once not to let one guy go off like it’s his last day on earth.