Apparently no one has really taken notice- but the Spurs, a preseason favorite to win the championship, are 11-3. That's a really good record (duh) but it is especially good for a team that is trying to integrate a new player who doesn’t exactly do what the Spurs have become known for over the past couple years. Basically, lost in the hoopla of the Warriors going undefeated to start the season with a small ball lineup they roll out out at the end of games, the Spurs are trying to go a bit more “traditional” and so far are being successful.
Currently, these two teams seem to be on a collision course to meet in the Western Conference finals next spring- although I think the Spurs are more likely to lose if they get the draw with Clippers as opposed to the Warriors. The two early season matchups between the Warriors and the Clippers would lead you to believe the Warriors would that be able to handle the Clippers in a seven game series, whereas the Spurs may struggle with the same matchup. Actually the past couple sentences may just be a whole lot of recency bias, but, I think, if the Spurs are trying to play the traditional two big lineup like the Clippers, the younger more athletic team should have the advantage. However, since the rest of Western Conference appears to have taken a step back, or seems to be on a lower tier than the Spurs and Warriors, let's predict in November that these are the teams that will meet to play Cleveland in the final. Granted, there are 60 some odd games remaining plus the playoffs before we get to that point, but I feel pretty comfortable that two of those three teams will be in the finals. I assume people in OKC just got really mad, but no one from there reads me, so I'm unconcerned about it.
I am going to assume that the Warriors beat the Lakers tonight (Note: yep, that happened) and therefore now have the best record to start a season. In addition, they had a historically great regular season last year as well, which they obviously followed up with a championship. I can’t believe that the rest of the league spent summer and fall pissing and moaning about how “lucky” the Warriors got- it was really just an exercise in poking the bear that so far has only paid dividends for one team - Golden State. Maybe it's the baby face that Curry has that lulls the rest of the league into thinking they can talk shit and he wouldn’t get all annoyed and come back better; or maybe it is because we have never seen this type of player before that the rest of the league wasn't sure how a player like him could actually improve off last year’s performance- that the rest of the league expected regression (he did hit the most 3’s in history last year) as opposed to improvement; or maybe the league unexpected this young-ish team to not handle success and party down all summer- so the league tried to take a gigantic dump on the Warriors championship in August and September. I have loved how this has worked out- a team that is basically missing it's coach is unleashing jump shot hell on every team they've come across, and the rest of us are the winners for it.
At the other end of the spectrum- I am thinking of going to see the opposite of Warriors - Spurs on Tuesday- the Lakers and the Sixers. Currently, StubHub has seats for like $25. Which is actually high for the Sixers, last week the Pacers were in town and tickets were going for $6 a pop. The Sixers - apparently pun intended- rewarded their fans by trying to put six men on the court at the same time, one for dollar they hypothetically spent. I guess that means the Lakers are still a bit of a draw, despite big in the cellar of the Western Conference, much like the Sixers are in the Eastern Conference. I assume that that everyone Lower Merion wants to get their last look at Kobe, thus driving the tickets to such ridiculously high prices.
(“Editor’s” Note: I realized yesterday that it is better to write at night, then sleep on it for a night, and do some proofreading in the morning, hopefully that will help improve the quality of the product.)
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