Back to the future: Warriors vs. Spurs keys revisited

The Golden State Warriors lost a thrilling and maddening game to the San Antonio Spurs 105-100 on Monday night. The good news is that they get to run it back tonight and seek revenge. But while we wait for that, let’s revisit the pregame keys to victory.

DeRozan

The key: Keep DeMar DeRozan uncomfortable.

The outcome: DeRozan never looked in rhythm scoring the ball, as he shot just 6-for-15. The Warriors kept him from his go-to spots for much of the game.

But he got to the free throw line eight times, and dished out 10 assists. It wasn’t a dynamic performance, but he certainly seemed comfortable.

Grading the key: 3.5 out of 10.

Fast and furious

The key: Keep the game fast and frenetic, with the ball moving all around.

The outcome: The hope was that the small ball Dubs would move around at a frantic pace against San Antonio, but it didn’t really happen.

Golden State had just 12 fast break points, and generally looked more comfortable walking the ball up the court.

The did a decent job moving the ball around, but spent far too much time moving it to the players wearing the white jerseys. The 29 assists look nice, until you realize they were paired with 20 turnovers.

Grading the key: 2 out of 10.

First quarter

The key: Don’t fall into a first quarter deficit.

The outcome: Two days after falling behind the Dallas Mavericks 18-2, the Warriors looked much more competent in the first quarter. They came out firing on both ends, and held a rather comfortable looking 36-27 lead after the initial frame.

First quarters have been hard on the Warriors this year, but not on Monday.

Grading the key: 9 out of 10.

Dray

The key: Draymond Green be aggressive on offense.

The outcome: I’ll be honest, when I wrote this key, this wasn’t what I had in mind:

Dray was aggressive on offense, and he handed out 10 assists and took 11 shots. That’s the good. The bad is that he had 5 turnovers, and shot just 3-for-11, including 1-for-4 from distance and 0-for-2 from the charity stripe.

The Warriors emphatically need Green to be aggressive. They also need him to be in control.

Grading the key: 5 out of 10.

Some things to work on, to be sure.