After an insane game 1, the Golden State Warriors and San Antonio Spurs are back at it. The Spurs hope they can tie the series up 1 to 1. In game 1, the Spurs jumped out to a twenty point lead led by Kawhi Leonard and LaMarcus Aldridge. The Warriors made a couple of runs in the third quarter, but it wasn't until Kawhi Leonard went down with an ankle injury that the Warriors made their mark. Directly following the Leonard injury, the Warriors went on an 18 to 0 run and would end up taking the game and stealing away game one.
Warriors keys
The first key for the Warriors is their energy on defense.
Game 1 woke them up. Kawhi injury or not, they finally started attacking the Spurs in the third quarter. They need to pick up that energy from the beginning of the game. The Spurs came prepared to fight with the Warriors and the Warriors didn't. Once they've established their energy, they need to attack the rim and go at the Spurs on offense. Too often in the first half of game 1, they played with their backs to the basket and would run pin down screens but only looked to settle for jump shots. They need to take it to the rack specifically Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry. If those two attack the rim, they'll open up their shooting for Klay Thompson and Draymond Green.
Lastly, they need to get out in transition.
They did that fairly well in game 1 but it went unnoticed because they were down 20 during it. They need to get Kevin Durant and Stephen Curry in space to dominate. Once they dominate in transition, they'll put loads of pressure on the Spurs in the half court.
San Antonio keys
For San Antonio, the first thing they need to work on is execution.
When Kawhi Leonard went down, their execution went through the drain. The reason this happened instead of their success against Houston was because the role players for the Spurs couldn't get by the Warriors defenders on the dribble. That whole third quarter the Spurs were being suffocated. For a while when Aldridge had the ball they would double, and then the Spurs weren't getting anything off of that.
They have to clean this up and get guys like Manu Ginobli and Jonathon Simmons in the game sooner.
Defensively they did a decent job in game 1. They gave up some easy baskets but against such a good team like that, you can live with the effort they had. In the fourth quarter, they needed stops and just weren't getting them. This will be huge in game 2 if they can find the timely stops to win a game.
