OPEN THREAD: Game #21-Spurs @ Warriors

What time is it???

GAME TIME!

Warriors take on Western Conference powerhouse, the San Antonio Spurs, possibly sans Tim Duncan.  This might be good news given that in the Tim Duncan era of Spurs basketball, the battle between these two is far from a rivalry.  Yahoo!'s preview of the game notes that the Spurs have historically owned them 33-5 since Duncan's debut.  

The methodical Spurs, coached by Greg Popovich, present match up problems against the seemingly "anti-methodical" methodical Warriors.  We've all attempted to figure out the mathematic formula to explain the rhythm of Warriors hot shooting.  Is it every other game?  Is it every two games?  Is the equation 1/(x^4) + x^2, where X represents how many shots Jackson and Monta take, combined?  At any rate, after a mediocre shooting night and defensive effort against the Lakeshow, the patterns show that the Warriors should be able to take this one.  

But before we get to the predictions, a battle that might be of intrigue is Tony Parker versus Monta Ellis.  Tony Parker has blossomed in the last few years, maximizing his talents to get maximum results.  Though I would hardly consider him a tier 1 point guard in the L, he's comes off as a smart player who takes tons of high percentage shots ala Steve Nash, hitting over %50 percent from the field.  Though average nearly 7 assists a game, I wouldn't necessarily call him a pure point either (nor a scoring point).  Ellis, like Parker, is a dude who's speed is rivaled by few in the league and is developing a nice mid range game to add to his accelerations to the rim.  Something I've seen in the last few games that I haven't seen much of earlier this year is some better reads of defenses with the ball, a little more hesitation and deliberation on his drives like a running back allowing for the holes to open, and a stronger attempt at distributing the ball (the behind the head dish to a parallel running Biedrins down the lane was absolutely beautiful in the last game).  Anyway, the point of comparison isn't to suggest that their games are similar, but perhaps to gauge what Ellis' worth might be. Also,Parker might serve as a template for a type of player that Ellis may mold himself into, but with more explosive drives.  Parker's development of more finesse, spins, and upfakes in the lane perhaps serves as models of how Monta can exploit his own speed more effectively rather than drawing charge calls (which he has definitely minimized as of late...).  Plus, how much is Tony Parker getting paid anyway?  Is Monta's worth equivalent to Tony Parker's?

On to the PREDICTIONS!

* Warriors by 7 (I'm feeling good tonight!)
* Monta (19-4-6) goes toe-to-toe with Tony P. (21-4-7)
* Since Trevor Ariza blew up last game, I give the Unsuspecting Warrior Killer title to Matt Bonner, who  will drop 5 3s.
* Jax rebounds from a poor shooting night to drop in game changing 3 pointers!

What are your predictions for tonight's game?  Drop your predictions in the comments!


Update (Atma Brother #1):

Final Boxscore

Stay tuned for the Recap!