Golden State Warriors Keep In-Season Tournament Hopes Alive With Win Over San Antonio Spurs

While the game was much closer than the Dubs hoped and perhaps many anticipated, the Golden State Warriors beat the San Antonio Spurs 118-112 in the penultimate In-Season Tournament bracket play game. The Warriors were up by a comfortable 15 points with under three minutes to play, but after sloppy play and some clutch shot making, the Spurs cut the lead to as little as three points. Though ultimately, Curry and Klay hit clutch free throws and the Dubs escaped with a big win. 

The Spurs came out of the gates hot, with Wemby leading the charge as he flushed a dunk home before nailing a wing three pointer to take an early 11-4 lead. The Warriors picked up the pace a few minutes in as Moody cashed in on a mid range jumper, then the splash brothers traded long balls. Wemby got fouled on a layup and converted two at the charity stripe but Steph quickly responded with another trey, cutting the lead to 23-20. The Warriors continued to battle and drew as close as one point several times throughout the rest of the first quarter, but couldn’t get over the hump and a smooth Tre Jones floater, the Spurs took a 35-32 lead into the second. Golden State picked up the intensity in the second quarter and clamped down on defense. Devin Vassel scored eight straight for the Spurs instantly extending their lead to 46-37. But the next five minutes were dominated by the Dubs. They strung together multiple stops and hit a myriad of threes from around the arc capitalized by a go-ahead trey from Wiggins giving Golden State a 50-49 advantage. The latter half of the second quarter was low scoring as only 15 total points were scored in the final six minutes. The Warriors were able to win these minutes and go into the break with a 59-55 cushion. 

Both teams traded punches to start the third. It was the Spurs who drew blood first, tying the game at 66 thanks to two Malaki Branham buckets and a Wemby turnaround jumper. A minute later, Curry nailed two threes and Saric chipped in with one of his own to put the Warriors back up nine. After a few minutes of no action, Curry hit another shot from beyond the arc and Saric got two to fall from the charity stripe increasing the lead to 82-68. But to end the third, it was San Antonio who got the last laugh as they went on a 14-4 burst headlined by several smooth buckets from journeyman Cedi Osman. When the horn sounded to end the third, Golden State’s lead had dwindled down to just four. Kuminga and CP3 started the fourth with back to back threes and after Kuminga slammed one home on a fastbreak, the Spurs were down 94-81 and needed a timeout. Two minutes later with just over eight and half minutes left, the Dubs were pouring it on and looked as if they were going to run away with it as Kuminga got to the rack to bring the score to 101-83. However the Spurs refused to go down without a fight. With five minutes on the clock, Zach Collins made a layup making it a ten point game and San Antonio had all the momentum. But after a Warriors timeout, Curry hit two threes to give Golden State some room to breathe again, extending the lead to 15. Back and forth the game continued to go, as Vassell and Keldon Johnson headlined an 11-0 run and with 55 ticks on the clock, the Warriors had squandered their double digit lead and only led 110-106. Fortunately for Golden State, despite a Cedi Osman three and some late game drama, the Warriors pulled it off and hit crucial free throws to send the Spurs home with their 11th straight loss.

Victor Wembanyama and Keldon Johnson had solid outings for San Antonio with 22 points apiece. Wemby went 8-18 with 9 boards while Johnson was efficient on an 8-13 clip with 12 boards. No other starter scored more than 7 points but Vassell recorded a team high 24 off the bench. Osman chipped in with 11 while Tre Jones and McDermott accounted for 7 each. For Golden State, Curry bounced back after a poor performance against the Suns with 35 points and 7 threes. Klay struggled for what seems like the 10th game in a row, amassing 15 points on 3-11 from the field. Moody, starting for CP3, had an efficient game picking up 9 points on 4-4 shooting. Off the bench, Saric put up 20 points with 4 threes and 7 boards. And the only other notable performance was Kuminga with 12 points and CP3 with a quiet 5 points and 10 assists including a +16 plus/minus.

Despite giving up 112 points, the stats prove it was a good defensive game for the Dubs. They held the Spurs to 12/47 from beyond the arc, good for 25.5% as well as limiting them to 12 free throw attempts, a drastic difference from last game. Another bright spot for the Warriors was the fact that they shot 49.1% from the field and 45.2% from the three point line. Conversely, there were several areas where improvement must be made. First and foremost, taking care of the ball. They turned it over 24 times, including 6 from Curry. Additionally, they allowed 15 offensive rebounds which turned into 19 more shots for the Spurs. A better team while surely capitalize on this and convert a higher percentage of these extra looks. One thing that I am really liking is that Saric and CP3 have both been playing outstanding within their role. Saric has been knocking down open threes and playing solid defense while CP3 is running the second unit offense and helping the Warriors put up points when Curry is not in the game. Klay Thompson is undoubtedly in one of the worst shooting slumps in his career, but I have faith he will find his way out. There are talks of benching him or even trading him, but I don’t think either option is valid. He is a top five shooter of all time and just needs to find his stroke. When he does, the Warriors will reap the benefits. 

The win against the Spurs keeps the Warriors hopes of qualifying for the In-Season Tournament alive. They will square off against the Sacramento Kings on Tuesday in a must win game. After five long games without him, Draymond will finally be back and help bolster the Warrior defense and facilitate the offense. The Dubs already have two wins against the Kings on the season so there is no reason to believe they can’t pull another one off. With the team hyped up after a big win and Draymond coming back, I predict the Warriors win a tight one 132-128.