The Golden State Warriors rode hot shooting by Stephen Curry and a raucous fan base to a first round upset of the third-seeded Denver Nuggets. Tonight, however, the Warriors face an entirely different animal, one that has won titles and has not lost in the first round of nine of the past ten postseasons, the San Antonio Spurs.
Legendary Spurs head coach Gregg Popovich broke character last month in praising Curry after the Warriors surprised the Spurs with 116-106 regular season win in which Curry drained seven 3-pointers. "It's actually fun to watch," Popovich said. "Everybody hates losing, but I enjoyed watching a talented kid perform the way he did, and he does it with class."
In six games this postseason Curry is averaging 24.3 points and 9.3 assists per game, while drilling 43 percent of his 3-pointers on eight attempts a night. Warriors head coach Mark Jackson said of Curry, "He has a gift that you can count on your hand how many people have. Everyone wants to be a shooter. And then you look at him, he looks like a baby. And he's smiling and he never gets out of character and he's a class act. I just think at the end of the day people see him and say, 'Man, that's how I want my son to be."
For all his shooting prowess, however, Curry figures to have his hands full with his Spurs counterpart, Tony Parker. While injury questions dogged Parker entering the playoffs, he erased all doubts about his health in San Antonio's quick dismantling of the hobbled Los Angeles Lakers. Parker is averaging 22.3 points and 6.5 assists this postseason.
The Spurs also have a big man tandem that can punish Golden State down low; in the case of Tim Duncan one of them can score prolifically, likely rendering Jackson's strategy of starting rookie forward Harrison Barnes at power forward obsolete.
The game will tip off at 9:30 p.m. and can be live streamed for free by clicking this link.
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