by David Zizmor

OAKLAND–The game on Friday was a big test for the Golden State Warriors where they defeated the San Antonio Spurs at the Coliseum Arena 110-99. They looked a little sluggish leading up to the All-Star break and of course their two best players Stef Curry and Klay Thompson both played in the All-Star game and participated in the All-Star activities.

So Curry and Thompson didn’t get a full weekend off during the break, they did get about a week off to rest. Some fans were concerned that the Warriors were hitting a wall however they came out against a great Spurs team on Friday night and played one of their best games of the season. That kind of relaxed everybody, the Warriors don’t want to start the second half of the season with a dud.

The Warriors didn’t start this second half with a dud, it was competitive in the first quarter as the Spurs led by two and things looked a little shaky there in the second quarter. Part of that is that in the second quarter Curry rested for the first five minutes of the second quarter and the Spurs weren’t pulling away.

The Spurs were leading and there was kind of threat that they might put a little distance between them and the Warriors then Curry got called for a phantom foul that led to a technical. Then there was another technical on head coach Steve Kerr and that just fired up the Warriors and from that point all the way until the third quarter the Warriors just dominated the game.

By the end of the third quarter the Warriors turned it up led by Curry who went off as a scorer but as a facilitator, as the Warriors were up as much as 20 points. In the fourth quarter they didn’t need the starters in there that much and the Warriors won it by 11, it was never a close game in the fourth quarter. The Warriors were 2-24 in their last 26 games against the Spurs during the regular season.

The Warriors had their struggles over the past seasons against San Antonio but in a couple of wins they’ve had in the last few years it’s typically been really close games. They’ve never had a game like this against a Spurs team that they’ve pulled away and they had a chance to sit back and relax and relish the game. They’ve had these competitive tight ones that have gone down to the wire but it wasn’t the case in this game.

David Zizmor does Warriors commentary each week on http://www.sportsradioservice.com listen to the podcast below