Green is a jack-of-all-trades forward who led the Warriors in assists, but he will need to take more shots to help fill the void left behind by Steph. San Antonio will hope LaMarcus Aldridge can play more like the “Portland Aldridge” as he was once arguably the league’s best power forward. Aldridge is silky smooth on the baselines with one of the best mid-range jumpers in the game, and it will take consistent stroking on his part to keep San Antonio in this series. 

If nothing else can be said about these starting lineups, it is that Golden State’s simply packs a lot more scoring punch. All things said, that has to make Golden State overwhelming favorites, even outside of the fact that it has home court advantage and a raucous Oracle Arena supporting it. While the Dubs did lose 12 regular season games at home, it would be entirely unsurprising to see the team turn that into its major advantage now that the postseason is here.

The Warriors have a lot of experience and defense coming off its deep bench. From David West and Andre Iguodala to youngsters Patrick McCaw and Jordan Bell, Golden State really backs its starters up with some serious talent. Iguodala is still one of the league’s best defenders, as he reminded everyone by winning a Finals MVP award two seasons ago (even though many felt LeBron James should have won the award in a losing effort). 

The Warriors also have sharpshooting chucker Nick Young who can come in and fill it up, along with the savvy leadership of Shaun Livingston, who should see major minutes in this series if Cook proves himself not quite ready to take this big stage. Livingston is a major threat from mid-range and not very mistake prone, so the Warriors second unit really should be a big edge that helps make a difference in this series. 

The Spurs, of course, counter with some legends like Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili in the second unit, and that pair could factor in largely in crunch time given their experience and tenacity under pressure. While San Antonio also boasts a still-effective Pau Gasol off the bench at the 4/5 spots, it is hard to compare to what the Warriors have going, especially since the Spurs’ best three reserves are all mere shadows of the talents they were, say, even half a decade ago. 

Given that San Antonio is basically outclassed at every position, it is hard to imagine them managing to do more than win a game in this series and extend it to a five game series. Sure, Popovich can work wonders and is probably the best Xs and Os man in the league today, but Leonard’s decision to bail on the season crippled San Antonio, and it nearly cost the team a chance at even appearing in the playoffs, which would have been uncharted ground for Gregg Popovich’s lustrous career and the organizations long-standing record of excellence. Still, this is the three-time defending Western Conference champs it is facing, and even without Curry the Warriors are going to be ready to tune up for his return in round two. 
