Golden State Warriors 113-92 San Antonio Spurs: 5 Talking Points
The 2017 NBA Champions, the Golden State Warriors, hosted the San Antonio Spurs at the Oracle Arena for Game 1 of the first round matchup between these two teams.
Both teams were not at full strength with the Warriors missing their 2 time MVP Stephen Curry and the Spurs missing their perennial All-Star Kawhi Leonard with a mysterious quad injury but because of the presence of 3 other All-Stars for the Warriors, they were the heavy favorites going into Game 1.
The Dubs played tenacious defense from the get-go and the Spurs just couldn't find any sort of rhythm on the offensive end of the floor at any point in the game.The game ended in a blowout as the final score read 113-92 in the favor of the Warriors.
Here are the major talking points from the game:
#5 Warriors dominate the boards and moved the ball better
The Golden State Warriors used the home court advantage to their benefit and played aggressively for 3 quarters of the match (that's all they needed). The one thing that the San Antonio Spurs could have taken advantage of was the rebounding. The Spurs' bigs could have attacked the boards to create second-chance opportunities and thus slow down the pace of the game.
The Spurs got obliterated on the boards as they got outrebounded by almost 21 (51-30). Of those 51 by Golden State, 10 were offensive rebounds for the Warriors (Spurs only had 3).
The ball was moving smoothly for the defending champs. They led the league in assists in the regular season with 29.3 assists per game and tonight was nothing unusual. The Warriors ended with 32 assists for 44 field goals in comparison to only 19 assists for the Spurs.