We are more than halfway through the NBA season now and we will finally get to see the matchup everyone has been waiting for all season. The Golden State Warriors will host the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night in a matchup of the two teams with the best combined winning percentage of two teams meeting this late in the season ever. The Warriors come in at 40-4 which is the number one record in the NBA while the Spurs are 38-6 which is second best in the NBA.
The Warriors come into this game having won three games in a row. All three of those wins were against current Eastern Conference playoff teams and in all three they scored more than 120 points. The Warriors have the best offense in the league while the Spurs have the best defense in the league so this matchup should be extremely fun to watch.
You can't talk about the Warriors without first mentioning Stephen Curry who leads the league in all sorts of different categories including points per game (30.1) and PER (32.7). Curry is making a ridiculous 45 percent of his threes on the season and he is coming off a huge performance against the Indiana Pacers on Friday where he had a triple-double with 39 points and eight made three pointers.
Curry is the current MVP frontrunner in the league but it has been said that Draymond Green might actually be the Warriors' MVP. Green is having a career year on offense as he is averaging 14.7 points and a team leading 7.3 assists per game. Add that to the 9.5 rebounds he averages per game and the great defense he plays and you have one of the best players in the NBA. Green should be headed to his first ever All-Star game this season.
The Warriors come into this game relatively healthy and should have every rotation player available. James Michael McAdoo has the only injury to report with a toe issue but he isn't in the rotation anyway.
The Spurs come into this game having won 13 consective games and 20 of their last 21. The Spurs last loss came on Christmas against the Houston Rockets but since then they have been rolling. The Spurs recent play has people questioning whether the Warriors are truly the best team but we will find out more on Monday night.
The Spurs are led by Kawhi Leonard who was named an All-Star starter last week. Leonard's first All-Star appearance is well earned as his offense has really caught up to his defense this year. Leonard will likely be in a battle with Green for Defensive Player of the Year again this season but like Green he is having a career year on offense. Leonard is averaging 20 points per game while shooting 50 percent from the field and 48 percent from three.
Leonard has had plenty of help this season though as LaMarcus Aldridge seems to fitting in perfectly and Tony Parker has turned it on recently. Parker wasn't scoring much to start the season as he was more focused on setting people up but he has found his scoring touch recently. A couple of weeks ago Parker had back-to-back games where he scored 31 points and 24 points respectively. Since then the Spurs haven't played any close games so we will see if Parker can find the scoring touch again.
While Golden State is expected to come in to this game with everyone available, the same cannot be said for the Spurs. Tim Duncan is out for this one with knee soreness, it will be the second game he is missing in the Spurs last three. LaMarcus Aldridge is dealing with back spasms but he is probable to play and is expected to be available.
The game is scheduled to tip off at 10:30 P.M. Eastern time on NBA TV and to watch the live broadcast go here. For the Warriors radio broadcast go here and for the Spurs radio broadcast go here.
