featured-image

Game Preview: Warriors vs. Spurs - 10/25/16

Established 1946 | 7-time NBA Champions

A new season of Warriors basketball officially tips off on Tuesday with the Dubs hosting the Spurs on Opening Night.

Opening Night

Warriors vs. SpursTuesday, October 257:30 p.m.Oracle Arena

TV: TNT
RADIO: 95.7 The Game, Warriors Mobile App

OPENING NIGHT

The day is finally here. NBA basketball is back, and back in a big way. The Warriors tip off their 2016-17 regular season on Tuesday night when they host the San Antonio Spurs at Oracle Arena in a battle of the two teams that finished last season atop the Western Conference. Athough both rosters have undergone significant change, it remains the premiere matchup on the NBA’s opening night of games. Tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m.* and all fans attending the game will receive a special edition Opening Night T-Shirt, courtesy of City National Bank. Watch the action on TNT or listen to the call on 95.7 The Game or the Warriors Mobile App.

* With the opener being nationally televised, the game is expected to tip off right at 7:30 p.m. Fans attending the game are asked to be in their seats by 7:15 p.m. so they don’t miss any of the Opening Night introductions or other festivities.

PROJECTED STARTERS
GSW: Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Zaza Pachulia
SAS: Tony Parker, Kyle Anderson, Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol

INJURY & ROSTER NOTES
GSW: Damian Jones (right pectoral surgery) is out. Team Notes
SAS: Danny Green (left quad strain) is out. Team Notes

NEW ARRIVALS
The Warriors’ roster has undergone significant chance since last season. Nearly half of the players on the opening night roster were either on a different NBA team or not in the NBA at all last season, and many of those players are expected to play significant roles for a Warriors team attempting to get back to the Finals for the third-straight year. No addition will make as large of an impact as that of Kevin Durant, who signed with the Warriors in the offseason and happens to be the last player not named Stephen Curry to win the league’s MVP award. In addition to Durant, the Warriors also added the likes of Zaza Pachulia, David West and JaVale McGee, who will combine to fill much of the void created by Andrew Bogut and Festus Ezeli’s departures. Furthermore, while it’s still very early, rookie Patrick McCaw has the looks of a potential steal and backcourt contributor after being selected with the 38th pick in the second round of the 2016 NBA Draft. As with any team introducing a new contingent, it’s going to take some time for the Warriors to round into top form with their new teammates, but Tuesday’s home opener offers our first glimpse at how these 2016-17 Dubs might function together in a real game.

HOLDOVERS
Among the team’s returners are three All-Stars from the 2015-16 season: Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green. Curry obliterated his previous single-season 3-point record with 402 treys on his way to becoming the first unanimous MVP in league history last year, and Thompson and Green are both coming off a summer in which they won gold medals with Team USA at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. Factor in Durant, and it’s easy to see why the Dubs should have a talent advantage on most nights this season. That said, there’s only one ball to go around, so both the old and new Warriors will have to work together to figure out the best way to share it.

SAN ANTONIO SCOUTING REPORT

On Tuesday night, for the first time since the other Clinton was in the White House, the San Antonio Spurs will take the court without the name of all-time great and future NBA Hall-of-Famer Tim Duncan on the opening night roster. Duncan, who dominated on both ends of the court for the vast majority of his illustrious career, called it quits in the offseason after San Antonio was eliminated by Oklahoma City in six games in the Western Conference Semifinals, and it will be an odd sight to see someone else manning the paint for the perennially contending Spurs. Still, it’s not as if Duncan’s departure leaves San Antonio twisting in the wind, as the Spurs quickly rebounded from Duncan’s announcement by signing former NBA Champion Pau Gasol, who will partner up with LaMarcus Aldridge and two-time reigning Defensive Player of the Year Kawhi Leonard in forming one of the most talented frontcourts in the entire Association. Even without Duncan, San Antonio still has longtime veteran stalwarts Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli, not to mention head coach Gregg Popovich, so while they’re missing a familiar face, this will still be the same kind of San Antonio team it’s been for the better part of the last two decades. Both the Warriors and Spurs are considered to be amongst the league’s and West’s elite, so Tuesday’s matchup offers both a chance to make the first claim for relative superiority.