Golden State Warriors at San Antonio Spurs game thread: Tonite is the night!

Golden State Warriors at San Antonio Spurs

2013 NBA Playoffs: Round 2, Game 1

6:30 p.m. PST

AT&T Center - San Antonio, TX

TV: TNT | Radio: KNBR 1050

Buddy blog: Pounding The Rock

It's almost time for the Golden State Warriors to venture into territory they've seldom seen in the last two decades: the second round.

I guess I can't say this enough, whether as a defense mechanism or just a way to put Warriors fandom in perspective: win or lose in this series, I'm just happy the Warriors have gotten here. I'm expecting the Warriors to get a return trip to San Antonio in this series after dropping games one and two on the road. I'm not sure what to expect beyond that and really just hope to see a competitive series.

Anyway, we've been waiting a few days for this to start up now, so I'll just drop a few links on you and open up this thread:

Pre-game reading:

Lee active, but there's zero chance of him playing significant role

To Lee or Not to Lee: Are the Warriors Better Without Their All-Star? - The Triangle Blog - Grantland

GSoM's series preview

GSoM Q&A with Matthew Tynan about the Spurs

Pounding the Rock's analysis of correlates to Warriors success (and why the Spurs should beat the Dubs)
Marcus Thompson's preview, predictions, & matchups

Ball Don't Lie's series preview

Ric Bucher was on the beat the last time the Warriors beat the Spurs in San Antonio (via Marcus Thompson): article | box score

Key questions:

• How much will Lee impact this series? It was inspirational and all for Lee to take the court in the clincher against the Nuggets, but really I don't see him having much impact on this series one way or another.
  
• Does the time off hurt the Spurs because they'll be rusty in Game 1 or help them because they've had more time to prepare for this new-look Warriors squad? With their veteran coaching staff and experienced roster, I'm really leaning toward the latter here.
• How brightly will Curry's star shine? Marcus Thompson said he underestimated Curry in the the first round and it's safe to say I did as well - there's no shame in that as I don't think anyone could have predicted what happened in the first round. But how much of that can he continue? If he can help the Warriors steal one on the road, he'll instantly be fast-tracked to Warriors legend status.

Predictions:

• Getting this out of the way here: I'm going with Spurs in 6, beginning with a Warriors loss tonight. And really, I acknowledge that even that is optimistic: there's just too much efficiency and too little to exploit for the Warriors to beat this team consistently. Just getting three wins at Oracle would have me ecstatic.
• Bogut gets the better of Duncan tonight: Wishful thinking? Maybe. But if there's anything that could catch a team a little off guard right now, it's the way Bogut is playing.
  Landry is the x-factor who comes up big tonight: The Spurs may very well lock down the Warriors' primary options, but someone has to find a way to be effective and I'm picking Landry tonight.

Musical inspiration: DJ Quik - Tonite

Ok, I promised a little Bay Area music last time I did this, but DJ Quik came to mind in anticipation today and if Tony Toni Tone can get down with SoCal, I can too. And since the Warriors are the last California team standing for the first time since the 1976 NBA Playoffs, I can give our SoCal friends who want to jump on the bandwagon a little shout out.

Another fun music fact: The last time the Warriors and Spurs faced each other in the playoffs in 1991, Fresh Prince's "Summertime", Naughty by Nature's "OPP", and Black Sheep's "The Choice is Yours" had yet to be released. DJ Quik's Tonite had been in March and it still gets my head noddin.

Alternative Warriors extended remix lyric: "My name is Steph, but you can call me Daddy"...or something like that.

Props to anyone who can think of an appropriate 1976 song to get this series started.