Summer GMAT: WCF

[Hawk Eye]

Best of 7. First to 4 votes advances. Good luck gentleman, the finals are near.

(1) Spurs

V.S.

(3) Warriors

[DK-All Day]

Spurs in 6.

Golden State still has the Splash Bros. but I think Leonard can neutralize Curry or Thompson, or who ever has the hotter hand. LMA is a mismatch for anyone the Warriors put in front of him and the Spurs are incredibly deep.

Both great teams.

[moss_is_1]

Spurs in 7.

Tp will probably get benched for Schroeder at some point because of his defense, and with how bad he was last year I have to think another year will only magnify it. That said, LMA or Duncan is going to take a giant dump on Carroll or Chandler. Kawhi should be able to switch onto Curry or Klay and slow them down enough to help the Spurs advance to the finals. I think they also have a slight bench edge, though Gino will be pretty limited. AV/Splitter should prove to be valuable defenders off the bench, even though the Warriors will be going small, I could see a lot of Kawhi/Jerebko to space at the 4.

[babyjax13]

Gameplan: Our gameplan is based around the idea that Gobert's stifling defense (allows the lowest FG% at the rim) and keeping fresh defenders on Aldridge forces other players to step up, and for the Spurs to beat us with the jumper. That type of series ultimately means a lot of up and down basketball, and Golden State is built for that type of game. With San Antonio's aging lineup, and our depth, the Warriors should be able to take advantage of their age differential and out-pace them at scoring the basketball. Klay Thompson - in particular - is matched up against a player that he enjoyed tremendous success against last season (Afflalo). Overall, the Warriors are the worst possible matchup in the playoffs for the Spurs.


Parker/Schroder/Barbosa VS. Steph Curry 34/Shaun Livingston 14
Warriors have a clear advantage here. Parker will be 34 when this series starts while Curry will be 29 and coming off an mvp season. He should have a field day against Parker.

AA/Manu/Fournier vs. Klay Thompson 34/Randy Foye 14
Interesting matchup. Watching AA in Portland he doesn't seem to be the same player he was even 2 years ago, but he will still be 30 when this series starts, and he is a good defender. Thompson averaged 24ppg against Portland this year, being primarily guarded by Afflalo, so I think I have a significant advantage here. San Antonio has better backups, but Foye just has to hit 3s.

Leonard/Dunleavy/Prince vs. DeMarre Carroll 34/Wilson Chandler 14
This is probably the most interesting matchup of the series. Carroll is the perfect guy to try and limit Kawhi. They have similar strengths and weaknesses, but ultimately San Antonio has an edge here.

LMA/AV/Jerebko vs. Speights 20/Chandler 14/Lee 14
Speights is the Warriors secret weapon, he hits midrange jumpers so he spreads the court, and on a per minute basis is one of the most productive players in the league. The Warriors will keep either a fresh Speights or Lee on Aldridge, and use Chandler to spread the court when he is in. If we find that playing small ball against the Spurs is more effective, minutes will adjust accordingly. Chandler is only 8 pounds lighter than Draymond, so he has power forward size.

Duncan/Splitter/Kaman vs. Rudy Gobert 34/Marreese Speights 8/Joey Dorsey 6
Duncan is obviously still effective for his age...but can a 40 year old Duncan be effective against a 24 year old Gobert? Rudy allowed the lowest FG% at the rim last season, so Portland will have to beat us with the jumper, and they just aren't as prepared for that type of series as the Warriors are.

[MoneyTalks41890]

Don't have a lot of time to do this right now, but just a quick gameplan.

I plan to play Schroder more than TP this series, with he and Kawhi taking turns guarding Steph to bottle him up. Kawhi will spend the rest of his time guarding Klay. Carroll is not a concern offensively and AA and others will be just fine guarding him.

In the frontcourt, LMA is going to go to work. That 4 spot is very weak for GS and I don't see anything they can do to stop LMA on that end. And while Gobert is a good defender, he's not ready for Duncan's old man game. Ultimately I think the Warriors team is too inexperienced to hang with the Spurs, and our depth is going to help us win out in this series.

[MadNESS]

Spurs in 7.

Because of LMA.

Altough I LOVE Carroll, he can't guard LMA for 36 mins + a game at PF.

Depth prevails here as well.

[babyjax13]

Where is this idea coming from that Carroll is my power forward?

[spree8]

Spurs in 6

-They are just too big for GS on the inside. Rudy can't handle both Duncan and Aldridge. Carroll is good on defense, but against the Spurs bigs, he's outmatched. Kawhi can shut down Klay, and Pop is better at game planning and adjusting than Kerr is.

[Warriorfan]

Spurs In 7
GS splash brothers are more efficient scoring than Duncan LMA but Spurs too deep.

GS doesn't have enough bigs who play D.

[babyjax13]

I don't care if people vote for the Spurs, but really, Carroll is NOT playing power forward and everyone is citing that as the reason the Spurs will win. Look at my depth chart, folks, it is on this page.

[MoneyTalks41890]

I don't care if people vote for the Spurs, but really, Carroll is NOT playing power forward and everyone is citing that as the reason the Spurs will win. Look at my depth chart, folks, it is on this page.

Yeah I'm not sure what's up with that either, because you posted the matchups on this page with minute breakdowns...

[moss_is_1]

I don't care if people vote for the Spurs, but really, Carroll is NOT playing power forward and everyone is citing that as the reason the Spurs will win. Look at my depth chart, folks, it is on this page.

Yeah, I figured you would be switching them off and on depending on matchups. I put that LMA will be able to get his against Carroll or Chandler in my reasoning. FWIW, he would still get his VS Speights or Lee as well.

[MadNESS]

I don't care if people vote for the Spurs, but really, Carroll is NOT playing power forward and everyone is citing that as the reason the Spurs will win. Look at my depth chart, folks, it is on this page.

Yeah I'm not sure what's up with that either, because you posted the matchups on this page with minute breakdowns...

I was going off you roster page depth chart, my bad dude. Either way I'd still would have picked the Spurs.

[Karmaloop]

San Antonio in six.

Curry is going to get his, but there's enough defenders to throw at Klay to make him uncomfortable. Don't think Golden State has the right defender for LMA. And offensively, I've got concerns about their ability to score inside the paint.

[Coxy]

Warriors in 7.

[babyjax13]

I don't care if people vote for the Spurs, but really, Carroll is NOT playing power forward and everyone is citing that as the reason the Spurs will win. Look at my depth chart, folks, it is on this page.

Yeah I'm not sure what's up with that either, because you posted the matchups on this page with minute breakdowns...

I was going off you roster page depth chart, my bad dude. Either way I'd still would have picked the Spurs.

Since we've reached the limit already, FWIW I also would have picked the Spurs... But, my roster page also does not have DeMarre playing power forward, it has Chandler who has fairly prototypical power forward size [by this year's standards].

[Note30]

Yeah I'm not sure what's up with that either, because you posted the matchups on this page with minute breakdowns...

I was going off you roster page depth chart, my bad dude. Either way I'd still would have picked the Spurs.

Since we've reached the limit already, FWIW I also would have picked the Spurs... But, my roster page also does not have DeMarre playing power forward, it has Chandler who has fairly prototypical power forward size [by this year's standards].

Aren't they the same height?

[babyjax13]

I was going off you roster page depth chart, my bad dude. Either way I'd still would have picked the Spurs.

Since we've reached the limit already, FWIW I also would have picked the Spurs... But, my roster page also does not have DeMarre playing power forward, it has Chandler who has fairly prototypical power forward size [by this year's standards].

Aren't they the same height?

Both are 6-8. Chandler is longer and 15 pounds heavier. He has almost EXACTLY the same measurements as Thaddeus Young. (Chandler 6-8 225; Young 6-8 221) except he is probably a bit longer and he is more athletic.