TURN DOWN FOR...Steve Kerr resting his All-Stars on ABC Saturday Night Primetime?
The Golden State Warriors all of a sudden look vulnerable. And they're getting beat. Since Wizards center Marcin Gortat threw Warriors fraudulent All-Star vote receiving center Zaza Pachulia into Kevin Durant's right knee, Golden State has dropped four of six games. Tonight they are at the San Antonio Spurs, who have climbed to within a game and a half of the top seeded Warriors. This game will be televised on ABC. Saturday night primetime. It's the equivalent of Sunday Night Football on NBC. These are the marquee matchups. And yet, Warriors coach Steve Kerr has given me a lot of reason to watch some college basketball conference tournament rather than this game. Because Kerr is electing to rest Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, and Andre Iguodala. On a side note, Spurs superstar (yes it's time to recognize) Kawhi Leonard was already ruled out due to a concussion.
This isn't unheard of. Spurs coach Greg Popovich has made a habit of resting his players for years. Pop understands the grinds of an 82-game regular season. It's a marathon, not a sprint. And the Spurs are still tough to beat even when they're starters sit. So why am I complaining? Because the NBA (with Lil Jon as its spokesman) has pumped this game up all week. And they're right to. Even with no Kevin Durant this is the most likely Western Conference Finals preview. Now it might as well be a preseason game. I mean I guess Zaza can prove to us he should be on the All-Star team (hehe). Maybe we'll get some Javale McGee highlights. Or lowlights. But seriously. This game matters. The Warriors have 17 games to play. The Spurs have 18 remaining. The number 1 seed is up for grabs. That's a huge deal. Home-court in a seven game series matters. Go check the standings. The only team in basketball with equal success in regards to home and away is the Orlando Magic who are 12-20 in their building and in enemy venues. The Spurs are 27-8 on the road and 23-6 at home so they can win anywhere. So can Golden State for that matter as they're 26-4 at home and 26-9 away. But when it comes to a pair of evenly matched teams in a seven game series, home court can be the tiebreaker.
TIMEOUT!! I need to figure out who's starting tonight besides Zaza
The problem with this isn't resting starters. It's when teams are resting starters. With Golden State and Cleveland having an arms race reminiscent of the USA and USSR in the Cold War, this regular season has been all types of boring. It took a Kevin Durant injury to make it appealing at all. And now the NBA tries to give us a marquee game in primetime and Steve Kerr puts a fork in it. This is where the league should come through and take some action. They should flex this game. Give us something worth watching. Because I'm not interested in watching James Michael-McAdoo and what's left of Matt Barnes and David West. Utah and Oklahoma City. Washington and Portland. Atlanta and Memphis. There you go Adam Silver. I just gave you three choices. Or at least remake Lil Jon's ad. "TURN DOWN FOR..all these dudes riding the bench."
