The last time the Golden State Warriors beat the Spurs in San Antonio, Stephen Curry was a month shy of his 10th birthday, his father Dell was five seasons from retirement, and Gregg Popovich had only been the team's coach for a few months. If the Warriors win Saturday night, it will be the first time that the organization has won a regular season game in San Antonio for the first time since Feb. 1997.
As great as the Warriors have been this year and as dominant as their shooting has been, the Spurs are making their own case for being historically great. The Spurs are only four games off the Warriors' lead atop the Western Conference and have been just as unbeatable on their own court as their opponents have been.
The Warriors are coming off a 130-112 win over the Dallas Mavericks to move two games in front of the 1995-1996 Chicago Bulls' pace. The Warriors have made it known that they want to reach 73 wins to break the record for most wins in a season, but only if they can do it "the right way."
"A lot of talk about this record," Curry said Friday night. "It's there and we want to get there and do it the right way, but our mission from New Year's and even after the All-Star break was to continue to get better and reach our stride as we move toward the playoffs. I believe we're on that trend."
Another magic number that the Warriors are looking at is 32, the amount of consecutive regular season games that the team has last against the Spurs in San Antonio. This year, the Spurs defense is historically great, and they are on a 43-game winning streak when playing on their home court. In fact, the Spurs have been so good on defense that Saturday night's matchup is literally the ultimate offense-vs.-defense clash.
Since the Spurs were blown out in Oakland on Jan. 25, a game Duncan missed, the Spurs are 20-3, thanks in part to the emergence of Kawhi Leonard as the NBA's best two-way player and LaMarcus Aldridge as the team's leading big man. While the Spurs would love to avenge their big loss and keep their home record unblemished, the team has never placed as much emphasis on the regular season as the postseason.
"It's whatever you want to make it," Duncan said. "We're going to show up for the game and we're going to play it. It's not going to change our season or anything else. It will be a great matchup for us. Obviously, two best records in the league. They're playing exceptionally well. It's a good test for us. Playoff-type atmosphere and playoff-type intensity. Good experience for us."
