Warriors (7-16) @ Spurs (19-5) Warriors Keys To Winning: To win this game the Warriors will need Troy Murphy to stop Tim Duncan. Jason Richardson is much bigger and stronger than Manu Ginobili and will need to drive to the hoop to give Ginobili a hard time and score a lot. Mickael Pietrus might get to start again depending on Mike Dunleavy?s condition. If Pietrus does start, he needs to give the Warriors a fast tempo game. Warriors Key Bench Players: Luis Flores will want to play more after playing 19 minutes against Houston. Maybe he can come up big tonight. Eduardo Najera should help in this game. His hustle, defense, and playing style could help the Warriors stay close in this one. Starting Lineups: Warriors Spurs PG: Speedy Claxton vs. PG: Tony Parker Even. Both point guards are quick and can get the ball upcourt. SG: Jason Richardson vs. SG: Manu Ginobili: Even. J-Rich is bigger and can drive to the hoop strongly, but Ginobili is quicker. SF: Mickael Pietrus* vs. SF: Bruce Bowen: *Pietrus may start depending on Mike Dunleavy?s condition. If Pietrus starts, then the Warriors have the advantage because of how Pietrus plays and starts his team?s offense. If Dunleavy plays, the Spurs have the upper hand. PF: Troy Murphy vs. PF: Tim Duncan: Spurs. Duncan can score lots of points and is a good post player. However, Murphy may provide some trouble for Duncan. C: Cliff Robinson vs. C: Rasho Nesterovic: Even. Cliff has been hot lately, but Nesterovic is younger and quicker. Spurs Keys To Winning: Let Tim Duncan go to the hoop since the Warriors don?t have very good post power. Let Ginobili and Parker torture the Warrior guards. Malik Rose needs to come off the bench and play like he did in the 2002-2003 Finals Let Brent Barry shot from outside and let the veteran ship of Robert Horry guide the team to a victory. Spurs Key Bench Player(s): Brent Barry?s sweet outside shot should provide the Spurs some points of the bench. Malik Rose is still a good small forward even off the bench. He can still score and play good defense and probably will tonight. Player Of The Game: Tim Duncan 27 points, 12 rebounds, 6 assists, 2 blocks Prediction: San Antonio will win. 103 to 92
Ginobili actually can be a pretty strong defender and J-Rich will have to protect the ball very well if he wants to try to take it to the hole against him, not even factoring the stifling interior help defense. Although Ginobili is not great at defending penetrations straight up, he'll often come away with a steal or at least knock the ball away. I think you will have to watch Speedy in this game because the Spurs are his former team, and further, Parker has a groin injury, and thus is somewhat limited, although he has been still playing big minutes and putting up big numbers. Backup Beno Udrih is still pretty solid, though. And on a final note, I think Barry will be a nonfactor. He's been playing very few minutes in December (8 games, 13 minutes a game).
For guys who are watching the game, this is exactly why I like Dunleavy more than Pietrus right now. Pietrus is guarding Tony Parker while Speedy is on the bench. Parker has just gotten three straight lay ups off screen and rolls because Pietrus doesn't understand that he's supposed to back off a guy who's only driving and not shooting from the outside. MAKE HIM SHOOT SOME JUMPERS. Pietrus is going out to defend Parker 40 feet from the hoop, then once the screen comes, there's nothing Pietrus can do to defend him. Now Dunleavy wouldn't be able to guard Parker one on one either, but Dunleavy would be smart enough to know that he's got to back off Parker and make him beat the Warriors from the outside.
Man right now there's no Warrior I'm really a fan of. I'm just waiting and waiting for something to happen.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">Man right now there's no Warrior I'm really a fan of. I'm just waiting and waiting for something to happen.</div> The warriors suck. Mullin has a lot of work to do.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting custodianrules2:</div><div class="quote_post">I think it's better if you put Cliffy on Duncan</div> Probably. Duncan's practically unstopable.
