The Golden State Warriors will be hosting the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night in one of the most anticipated regular season games in the history of the NBA, but the game has a slight ding to it now, as the Spurs will be without the services of Tim Duncan for the evening.
There is, of course, some understandable chagrin regarding whether this is a “real” injury or just Greg Popovich gamesmanship. J.R. Wilco of Pounding the Rock opines,
If there’s any thing that can equal the expectations that Monday’s Golden State vs San Antonio matchup has created, it’s the number of predictions that somehow Pop would troll the Warriors by holding out some of his starting lineup.
Whether that is what’s happening, or whether the training staff is just taking precautions, the only thing that’s certain is that a bit of the luster has been taken off the game — unless the Spurs win, of course. Then there will be even more reason for Spurs fans to be excited.
It would be shocking to no one if the Spurs didn’t start their full complement of players until the two titan teams inevitably meet in the Western Conference Finals of the playoffs because that’s the way he works.
According to NBA.com, the Spurs own a net rating of plus-17.3 with Duncan in the lineup but “only” plus-13.7 with him. It’s not exactly as they struggle without him.
In a certain way, now, this becomes a game impossible for Golden State to “win” and/or for San Antonio to lose. Even if the Warriors win the game, the Spurs have the built-in excuse, playing on the road without their greatest player ever. Of course, if San Antonio wins, it becomes even bigger.
Which all goes back to the point that this feels as much like Popovich playing chess as it does Duncan not playing basketball.