The Golden State Warriors kicked off their campaign to reclaim the NBA championship against one of the strongest contenders in the Western Conference, the San Antonio Spurs, on Tuesday 10:30 p.m US EST at Oracle Arena in Oakland, California.
Game Preview:
The Warriors enter the new season with one goal on their mind: winning their second NBA championship in three years. Even if they failed to bring in a big free-agent last summer, the Warriors would still be the favorite to come out of the West. However, Golden State got even luckier after hitting the free-agency jackpot that is Kevin Durant.
The Warriors, boasting a fearsome foursome of Durant, reigning back-to-back MVP Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green., march into October as the team-to-beat in all NBA, and analysts believe only a handful of teams have shot of beating this Super Squad.
One of them is the San Antonio Spurs. Despite the retirement of Tim Duncan, the Spurs remain as potent as ever. They added Pau Gasol to fill in the spot left void by Duncan, and more importantly, officially anoint Kawhi Leonard as the new top man of the franchise.
The Spurs won seven of their last 10 head-to-head matches with the Warriors, although the latter dominated the former last season by capturing three wins of four regular-season contests.
Players to Watch:
Spurs Starting Lineup: Tony Parker, Danny Green, Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge and Pau Gasol
The Spurs have a big starting frontline with Aldridge and Gasol manning the interior. However, they can easily shift to small ball by putting Aldridge at center and Kawhi Leonard at power forward. Expect Leonard to be a fantasy monster because of his ability to pile up stats on both ends of the floor. He's expected to average 25 points with 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 2 steals and a block this season.
Warriors Starting Lineup: Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green and Zaza Pachulia
It's pick your poison for every opponent the Warriors are going to face this season. Curry, Thompson and Durant can light it up in any given night, making this Super Team tough to cover. For value fantasy pick, Pachulia seems to be a safe bet since he will get a lot of minutes as the Warriors starting center/
Prediction:
The Spurs are capable of pulling off an opening night shocker, especially if they are able to control the board and shut down the Warriors perimeter players, which is going to be a brutal task. Then again, the Warriors can easily blow things up wide open with a barrage of treys from Durant, Thompson and Curry. Warriors 115, Spurs 103.
Live Stream of Spurs vs. Warriors game is available on NBA League Pass, TNT Overtime, and NBA Live