Spurs vs Warriors: Segababa and the need for steals.

Golden State Warriors (45-28) vs.San Antonio Spurs (58-16)

5:30 p.m. PST

AT&T Center, San Antonio, TX

TV: CSNBA/HD | Radio: KNBR 680

Blog buddy: Pounding the Rock

After last night's thrilling conclusion, a game on the road against the best team in the league (currently. again.) doesn't sound like a recipe for getting well.  And yet, if the Warriors want to really contend, they'll have to be able to win games like this. It's no different for any team - you have to be able to win under adversity. We say that so easily, and yet if it were easy everyone would do it.

So what can the Dubs do to steal one tonight? Play extraordinary defense, and generate turnovers. Without David Lee and Andrew Bogut, the Warriors are going to give up points to Tim Duncan, Boris Diaw, and Tiago Splitter when they get the ball. The keys to tonight's game are therefore defensive rebounding and turnovers. Which means that Draymond Green, Andre Iguadala, Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry are going to have to do major work.

They'll have to do two things - shut down the 3, and play near-perfect position defense. It's hard to gamble against the Spurs, who always seem to beat teams by out-executing them. Even if they have a poor game, they usually manage to make the other team worse. Turning that on it's head is probably the only way to beat their perimeter of Tony Parker, Manu Ginobilli, Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green.

That's the game, right there, as far as I can see. Deny the ball inside, play position defense and get rebounding position, shut down the perimeter. Can the Warriors do it? Of course. Will they succeed this time? We'll find out in a few hours.