When the wild, woolly Warriors set fire to scoreboards, record books and the night sky through the first half of a magical season, they left every team in the NBA choking on their dust. Except one.
While Stephen Curry stacked YouTube highlights, Klay Thompson fired 3-point daggers and Draymond Green crushed victims under the wheels of an offensive machine, they were the bunch that kept their noses to the ground and followed the scent.
As Butch Cassidy once famously asked of the Sundance Kid: “Who are those guys?”
The Spurs finally arrive tonight at Oracle Arena (10:30 p.m. ET, NBA TV), Game 45 in the loooooonng regular season schedule, the flame at long last touching the fuse.
Right from the outset of their rip-roaring, mind-bending 24-0 start, the Warriors have been the attention-grabbing explosion at the tip of the volcano, the kind of sight that can take your breath away.
All the while the Spurs have been the lava the follows, running relentlessly down the side of the mountain, quieter perhaps, but no less devastating in swallowing burning up virtually everything in its path.
Golden State at 40-4; San Antonio 38-6. The No. 1 offense (Warriors) vs. the No. 1 defense (Spurs). The No. 3 offense (Spurs) vs. the No. 2 defense (Warriors).
Ka-Pow!
“In any other season in the last decade we would be first, with quite a lead,” said the venerable Spurs sixth man Manu Ginobili. “But this year we are facing a team that is playing unbelievably and Steph is playing crazy, 30-plus (points per game). It’s hard to beat that. But who cares?”
Not the Spurs, the ultimate players of the long game. They know it’s only January, a time for conditioning and calisthenics. Let the Warriors chase 70 wins. The Spurs eyes are always out there focused on the horizon and the playoffs that you can’t yet see.
“I take it as another game,” Ginobili said. “It’s a good test […] But it’s not that if we win we get five wins or if we lose we go sideways. It’s important. We want to win. We want to play well, but it’s just another one.”
They come at this from entirely different angles. The Warriors have played with the swagger of defending champions and the chip-on-the-shoulder attitude of disrespect following an offseason of hearing questions about their pedigree, because they beat two teams (Memphis, Cleveland) that weren’t at full strength and did not play two others (L.A. Clippers, San Antonio) that might have been tougher match-ups. The champs are full of fire and sparks that have kicked up a rooster tail of excitement and highlight reels as they chase history.
After making the splash of the summer by signing free agent prize forward LaMarcus Aldridge and then getting veteran David West to come along as an economy-priced bonus, the Spurs entered the season pursuing a sense of cohesiveness and rhythm that would eventually make them a contender once more in the spring.
“I didn’t expect it to be this good,” said coach Gregg Popovich of the Spurs’ record. “But I don’t think we’ve played the toughest schedule.”
What the Spurs have done steadily and ruthlessly in the shadow of the Warriors’ splendid start is make the first steps of transition from the old core of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Ginobili to a next generation led by Kawhi Leonard and Aldridge.
It did take quite a while for Aldridge to begin to find his place in the Spurs’ offense and there are still times when he looks lost. But what surprised even Popovich was the way Aldridge has fit into a defense that is back to being ranked No. 1 in the league.
The 24-year-old Leonard, who has yet to appear in an NBA All-Star Game, has forced himself into the conversation with Curry for MVP this season by becoming the best two-way force in the game today. If Leonard has noticed the Warriors’ splendid start, he doesn’t let on.
“I really don’t catch games a lot,” Leonard said. “I just focus on what we’ve got going on.”
Which is exactly how these Spurs have played every game, every week, every month of this season that, if you go by video links and headlines, has been all about the Warriors soaring high in the clouds, practically reinventing the game.
The 35-year-old West, who took an $11-million pay cut to join the Spurs, shakes his head at the singular focus.
“One of the biggest adjustments for me has been the lack of focus on other teams,” West told Yahoo Sports. “It’s all about this group, and what we’re doing every day. Maybe we spend three minutes on who we’re playing that night. … We watch a few clips. Here, you just realize that it’s not really about anybody but us.”
So more than halfway through the schedule, the Spurs must finally relish getting a chance to reach out and touch the bar that the Warriors have set so high.
“Not really,” Parker said. “They’ve been playing unbelievable. We’re just going to […] see what we can improve. If we catch them, good. If we don’t catch them, it’s OK.”
Who are those guys?
The Warriors can finally do more than just feel the shadow.
Fran Blinebury has covered the NBA since 1977. You can e-mail him here and follow him on Twitter.
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