The Golden State Warriors got a well needed win last night against the San Antonio Spurs, 112-101. With so much anticipation of Golden State’s route to 73 wins and whether or not Coach Popovich would play his regular rotation, this game had a lot of buzz surrounding it. Contrary to their San Antonio ways, the Spurs did suit up everyone and we got that 1 vs 2 match-up of the Western Conference. The Warriors took the first game in a very convincing fashion and the Spurs took the second, dominating inside and playing stifling defense. But Golden State bounced back last night after hitting a rough patch in their past few games playing sloppy and unmotivated. They really turned the ship around and looked like that team the world is accustomed to watching.
Last night’s win gave them a record of 70-9, becoming the second team in history to get 70 wins. Coming off his worst shooting game of the season, Steph Curry lit things up, dropping 27 points and dishing 9 assists. He didn’t settle for outside shots as he made a valiant effort to get to the cup and had some great finishes around the basket. Harrison Barnes had a solid night as well with 21 points and 8 rebounds. Kawhi Leonard led things for the San Antonio Spurs with 23 points but they missed that second big scorer which is usually LaMarcus Aldridge. He wasn’t himself and a lot of that might’ve been due to a dislocated finger he suffered in the first half but the trainer popped it back into place and he returned to the game. Although it was a bad night for the Spurs, the Golden State Warriors know that they aren’t going anywhere. Steve Kerr acknowledges the greatness of the San Antonio Spurs and he couldn’t have described it any better:
“It took 70 wins to wrap up the 1-seed, which tells you all you need to know about that team in the other locker room.”
That’s really mind boggling when you sit back and think about it, but that truly shows how great these two teams are. The Golden State Warriors are 3 games away from breaking a huge milestone that they haven’t shied away from. To beat Michael Jordan’s Chicago Bulls record, they must go 3-0, which includes winning a game in San Antonio; something they haven’t done in a long time.