Golden State Warriors vs. San Antonio Spurs Pick & Prediction JANUARY 13th 2023
The San Antonio Spurs and Golden State Warriors will participate in a history-making game on Friday in the Alamo City.
The game will be played in the Alamodome in a game expected to break the NBA regular-season attendance record. As of Wednesday, the Spurs had sold more than 63,000 tickets, which eclipses the standing record of 62,046 that watched the Bulls and Hawks play in 1998 in the Georgia Dome.
The stated capacity for the Alamodome for Friday's game is 68,000, which would include standing room tickets. The previous record for an NBA game at the stadium, which was the home of the Spurs from 1993-2002, is 39,554 for San Antonio's Game 2 win against the Knicks in the 1999 NBA Finals.
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The largest crowd in NBA history was established in 2010 when 108,713 fans saw the All-Star Game at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.
"It will be a fun evening," Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. "To have that many people in there, it's crazy."
While the excitement of playing in front of such a large crowd is palpable, winning the contest would be even sweeter, especially for the Spurs. The team is celebrating its 50th anniversary in the 2022-23 season, the first half of which has been, at best, a struggle.
The Spurs have dropped three straight games and six of their last seven, while short-handed Golden State has also lost three consecutive games, all at home.
San Antonio heads home after a 135-129 defeat in Memphis on Wednesday that followed a 121-113 loss to the Grizzlies on Monday. Keldon Johnson returned after missing three games with a hamstring injury and led the Spurs with 24 points in Wednesday's loss.
Tre Jones added 22 points, Jakob Poeltl racked up 17 points and 12 rebounds, Doug McDermott scored 15 points, Zach Collins amassed 14 points and 12 rebounds, Josh Richardson scored 12 and Jeremy Sochan hit for 11 for San Antonio.
The Spurs trailed for the majority of the game but cut Memphis's lead to three points on Richardson's jumper with 2:41 to play. But San Antonio could not get over the hump.
"They never quit," Popovich said of his team. "That's a tribute to their character. You can't coach that. I was really proud of them."
The Warriors travel to San Antonio after a 125-113 loss to Phoenix on Tuesday that spoiled the return of Stephen Curry to the Golden State lineup. Curry missed the previous 11 games with a separated shoulder and hit for 24 points to augment the game-high 29 by Klay Thompson and Jordan Poole's 27 points off the bench.
The Warriors couldn't beat a Phoenix team that was without six of its regular rotation players, epitomizing Golden State's ragged performance over the season's first 41 games in defense of its title.
"I think (losing this game) could be a good thing for us, honestly," Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. "You need to get a wake-up call -- you need to be reminded how hard it is to win, and you need to understand the level of commitment to each other and the game that it takes to win a title.
"Hopefully this is the jolt we need because this first half of the season has been full of stops and starts."
--Field Level Media
Golden State vs. San Antonio Recap FEB 9TH 2021
DeMar DeRozan scored 26 points, and LaMarcus Aldridge added 23 points and 13 rebounds as the San Antonio Spurs, the NBA's hottest team, would not be denied in a 111-105 victory over the visiting Golden State Warriors on Monday, capturing their ninth win in a row.
The victory was San Antonio's 11th straight at home and guaranteed the Spurs (42-29) their NBA-record 22nd consecutive winning season.
San Antonio led by four points heading into the final quarter and was never behind over the final 12 minutes, building as much as a nine-point advantage on two different occasions and repelling each of the Warriors' attempts to take charge.
Davis Bertans' 3-pointer with 1:53 to play allowed San Antonio a 109-102 lead and all but finished off the Warriors (47-22), who fell into a tie with Denver for first place in the Western Conference standings with the loss.
Rudy Gay added 17 points for the Spurs while Derrick White and Patty Mills hit for 12 and 10 points, respectively, for San Antonio.
Stephen Curry led the Warriors with 25 points, and Kevin Durant tallied 24 in his return to the lineup after missing the past two games with a sprained ankle. Klay Thompson added 14 and Draymond Green racked up 10 points for Golden State.
The Spurs led 58-47 at halftime behind 13 points each by Gay and Aldridge, 12 from White and 10 from DeRozan. San Antonio forged a 19-2 run early in the second period and led by as many as 14 in a half that featured eight ties and six lead changes.
Durant and Curry paced the Warriors with 11 points apiece over the first 24 minutes of play.
Golden State forged a 15-5 run late in the third quarter and took a short-lived 78-77 lead on a 3-pointer by Curry with 33.1 seconds to play. The Spurs responded with the final five points of the period to regain the advantage at 82-78 and held on for the win.
Andrew Bogut, who signed with the Warriors on March 6 after winning MVP honors this season in Australia's National Basketball League, started for Golden State though he hadn't even practiced with the team.
Bogut, who played for the Warriors from 2012-16 and was a key member of Golden State's 2014-15 championship squad, was pressed into service after DeMarcus Cousins hurt his right ankle late in the Warriors' win Saturday at Oklahoma City. He had 7 points and 7 rebounds in 19 minutes of play.
Cousins was inactive, as was Andre Iguodala (dental work).
--Field Level Media
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