Warriors-Spurs Preview

By JEFF BARTL
Posted Jan 17 2013 2:10PM

Playing without Stephen Curry is never an ideal situation for the Golden State Warriors, who were struggling even before their star guard re-injured his surgically repaired ankle.

His absence certainly won't help Golden State end its nearly 16-year-old road losing streak to the San Antonio Spurs.

The Warriors look to avoid a 28th straight defeat in San Antonio and 16th consecutive loss overall in the series Friday night versus the Spurs, who seek their 14th home victory in a row.

Curry stepped on a teammate's foot and sprained his right ankle during the team's Wednesday shootaround, and didn't play that night in a 92-75 loss to Miami.

"As crazy as it sounds, it could have happened in a game," Curry said. "It was a freak kind of play."

Coach Mark Jackson said the injury doesn't appear to be serious, though he isn't sure when Curry will be healthy enough to return. Golden State (23-14) has dropped four of its last five games and is 10-31 without Curry, who is averaging 20.5 points and 6.6 assists, over the last two seasons.

"I'm not a doctor, but I can't imagine it turning into something more," Jackson said. "I won't get into timetables and all of that, but we're not concerned."

Jarrett Jack made his first start of the season Wednesday and scored a team-high 16 points, and he'll likely start in place of Curry for as long as he remains out.

Jack said the Warriors can't use Curry's absence as an excuse for not playing up to expectations.

"The best thing is we have a chance to go to San Antonio to correct it and get back to our style of play," he said. "Everyone is going to point to Stephen being out - of course we would love him in the lineup - but that one person isn't going to save the way we have been playing the past couple of games."

Golden State has had its share of problems playing in San Antonio with or without Curry. The Warriors haven't won a road game in the series since a 108-94 victory Feb. 14, 1997 - four months before the Spurs selected the now 36-year-old Tim Duncan with the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.

It's been more than five years since Golden State's 130-121 overtime home win over San Antonio on Jan. 7, 2008, and there's not much reason to believe the Warriors will end their series skids Friday. The Spurs haven't lost at home since before Thanksgiving, running their streak to 13 by routing Memphis 103-82 on Wednesday.

San Antonio (30-11) improved to an NBA-best 17-2 at home, winning there during its streak by an average of 16.7 points.

Duncan finished with a team-high 19 points and Tony Parker added 17 and 11 assists as the Spurs won their first back-to-back games in the new year.

"I think it's the best we've played in two weeks," coach Gregg Popovich said. "We've kind of had a tough time putting it all together in the last couple of weeks, for whatever reason. We're trying to get it back to the way we need to play to win."

Parker is averaging 23.8 points and 9.8 assists over his last five home games versus the Warriors, though San Antonio will again be without Manu Ginobili, who is out up to two weeks with a left hamstring strain.

Spurs beat Warriors 95-88 behind Duncan

Posted Jan 19 2013 1:04AM

SAN ANTONIO (AP) It's been 16 years since the Warriors won in San Antonio. That means Tim Duncan has been a winner in every home game he's ever played against Golden State, and he wasn't about to let that change Friday night.

Duncan had 24 points and 10 rebounds, and the Spurs held off Golden State 95-88 on Friday night to extend their home winning streak to 14 games.

The Warriors have lost 28 straight games in San Antonio, the longest current road drought for one NBA team against another.

"Don't say that. Why do you say that?" Spurs guard Tony Parker said, joking about jinxing the streak. "We don't really pay attention to those stats because every year is different, every team is different. Golden State is for real. They are a really, really good team. It's going to be tough against them."

The last time the Warriors won in San Antonio was 108-94 on Feb. 14, 1997. Four months later, the Spurs selected Duncan with the top pick in the NBA draft.

Parker added 25 points and eight assists for San Antonio (31-11), an NBA-best 18-2 at home. Tiago Splitter added 19 points and nine rebounds, and Danny Green scored 13.

"It was another tough game with playoff intensity," Parker said. "It was very physical and they are a very good team. They are playing very well and they played very hard tonight."

David Lee had 22 points, Klay Thompson added 21 and Jarrett Jack 20 for Golden State (23-15).

After winning their previous 13 home games by an average of 16 points, the Spurs needed a late surge to extend their streak.

San Antonio closed the game on a 9-4 run after Harrison Barnes' jumper pulled Golden State to 86-84 with 5 minutes left.

"They made some tough plays," Warriors coach Marc Jackson said. "They have a history of doing just that. I'm disappointed in the loss, but at the same time I really like the way my team got after it."

The Spurs needed to finish strong after an uncharacteristic lack of execution for much of the game.

After San Antonio failed to get a clean shot to close the first half, coach Gregg Popovich watched in dismay with his hands on his face as Jack dribbled the length of the court for a layup with 1.9 seconds left in the third.

Popovich yelled at Green, among others, for failing to stop the dribble.

"I think our defense kept us out of it in the beginning," Duncan said. "They were playing very well (and) shooting the ball really well. We weren't making the right rotations, we weren't contesting shots, but we cleaned it up a little bit. We found something that worked and that definitely took us over the top."

Duncan had eight points in the final quarter, going 4 for 6 from the field. He also had 10 points and five rebounds in the opening period.

Parker scored six of San Antonio's final nine points, hitting a pair of jumpers and a layup after missing his first two attempts of the quarter.

"They did what they do best, and that's going to Duncan and Parker," Lee said. "And have their role players do what they do."

Golden State led for all but 34 seconds in the first half.

The teams combined to start the game 2 for 12 from the field. The Spurs' first basket came 3 minutes in on Duncan's 19-foot jumper.

Golden State closed the first quarter on a 13-4 run but Gary Neal threw in a 3 at the buzzer to pull the Spurs to 26-19. Carl Landry had six points during the run.

Landry continued his dominance in the second quarter, going 7 for 10 while scoring 15 points. He did not score in the second half.

The Spurs had an opportunity to take the first-half lead, but Green missed a hurried 3-pointer after Splitter almost dribbled the final 3 seconds off. Popovich stormed onto the court, yelling at Splitter and Parker.

The start of the second half was delayed 15 minutes while one rim was fixed because the top screws were loose.

The Spurs tied the game at 58 midway through the third quarter when Stephen Jackson, Parker and Duncan quickly rotated the ball across the court to find an open Green for a 3. Duncan hit a pair of free throws on the following possession to give the Spurs a 60-58, their first since early in the first quarter.

The Spurs went on an 18-11 run after Duncan's free throws to take their largest lead at 78-69 with 27.3 seconds left in the third.

NOTES: Warriors C Andrew Bogut (ankle), G Stephen Curry (ankle) and G-F Brandon Rush all missed the game with injuries. ... Spurs G Manu Ginobili missed his second straight game and sixth of the season. ... Former Spurs G Pete Myers is an assistant coach with the Warriors. He averaged 4.7 points while playing 22 games for the Spurs in 1987-88 and eight in 1990-91. ... Parker has led the Spurs in scoring in 22 games, and 33 times in assists this season. ... The Spurs have swept the last four season series with the Warriors. ... Lee is the only player averaging 19 points, 10 rebounds and three assists per game this season. ... Thompson is the son of two-time NBA champion Mychal Thompson, who was traded by the Spurs to the Los Angeles Lakers midway through the 1987 season.

Notebook: Spurs 95, Warriors 88

Tim Price, NBA.com
Posted Sat Jan 19, 2013 12:18 AM - Updated Sat Jan 19, 2013 12:18 AM

THE FACTS: Tony Parker went 10-for-18 for 25 points and eight assists and Tim Duncan scored 24 points with 10 rebounds as the Spurs won another on their home court with Golden State again as the victim in a 95-88 decision Friday night at AT&T Center.

The Spurs (31-11) have won 14 straight at home and have not lost to Golden State in San Antonio since Feb. 14, 1997, a streak of 28 games.

The Warriors (23-15) have lost three straight for the first time this season and have dropped five of their last six. Stephen Curry missed his second-straight game with a right ankle sprain. He might be available Saturday night in New Orleans. David Lee scored 22, Klay Thompson had 21 and Jarrett Jack scored 20 with 10 assists in place of Curry.

QUOTABLE: "Tonight, it was another tough game with playoff intensity. It was very physical, and they are a very good team. They are playing very well and they played very hard tonight.."

-- Tony Parker

THE STAT: The Warriors hung tough -- they were down by two with five minutes left -- largely because of the play at point guard where Jack was playing in place of Curry. In his first start with Curry sidelined last time out, Jack took more shots than anyone else on the team and had two assists with five turnovers as Golden State was blown out by Miami at home. Tonight, Jack played 43 minutes and his 10 assists were joined by one turnover.

TURNING POINT: During a stretch of 4:15 that took the game into the final minute, San Antonio went on a 9-2 run and led 95-86 with less than a minute to go. The Warriors shot 1-for-6 in that stretch while Parker was 3-for-5.

QUOTABLE II: "[The Spurs] made some tough plays. They have a history of doing just that. I'm disappointed in the loss, but at the same time I really like the way my team got after it." -- Warriors coach Mark Jackson

HOT: Tiago Splitter is making a pretty good frontcourt mate with Duncan. Tonight, Splitter went 8-for-10 and had nine rebounds with 19 points. Splitter has scored in double figures in each of the past five games and is shooting 27-for-37 during that stretch.

NOT: Gary Neal opened the game 3-for-6. He finished by missing his last six shots but still led the San Antonio bench with eight points. Manu Ginobili was missing from the bench for the second-straight game with a hamstring strain.

FANTASY SPOTLIGHT: Duncan's 24 points and 10 rebounds also included three blocked shots, which he produced in the first quarter. Duncan at least three blocks each game over the past seven games and has averaged 4.1 rejections during that span.

INSIDE THE ARENA: The start of the second half was delayed more than 10 minutes while a work crew repaired one of the rims that was found to be damaged. There was a suggestion made on press row that Carl Landry did it with a dunk with about six minutes left in the first half, but Landry said the rim was like that when he checked into the game.

GOOD MOVE: The Spurs were trailing by three when Boris Diaw checked in for Duncan with 5:23 left in the third quarter. Diaw didn't score, but he ran up to the top of the key on more than one occasion to screen for Parker. It appeared to speed up the Spurs' halfcourt pace, and Parker responded for two of his three baskets in the quarter with his French teammate on the floor. San Antonio led by as many as nine points before the end of the quarter with Parker and Diaw out there together.

BAD MOVE: With Curry sidelined, the Warriors were unable to get to the line much. Jack had two free throws tonight. Parker had five for San Antonio. Golden State also was unable to get Landry involved in the second half. He was 7-for-10 in the first half but had only three shots after halftime and missed them all.

ROOKIE WATCH: Harrison Barnes continued his streak of starting every game this season for Golden State (38 games, eight rebounds and four points during 37 minutes in this one) and teammate Festus Ezeli started his 33rd game (no points but five rebounds).

NOTABLE: Not only have the Warriors not won in San Antonio in 16 years (that's even before Duncan was drafted by the Spurs), Golden State has dropped 16 straight games overall in the series.

UP NEXT: For the Warriors, Saturday @ New Orleans, Monday vs. L.A. Clippers, Wednesday vs. Oklahoma City. For the Spurs, Saturday @ Atlanta, Monday @ Philadelphia, Wednesday vs. New Orleans.

• Warriors: Bogut, Rush
• Spurs: Ginobili

• Warriors: --
• Spurs: Jackson

• Lead Changes: 7
• Times Tied: 12

• Arena: AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX
• Officials: #13 Monty McCutchen, #26 Pat Fraher, #63 Derek Richardson
• Attendance: 18581
• Duration: 2:21