The San Antonio Spurs and Victor Wembanyama are not messing around. They’ve not taken their foot off the gas pedal one bit, even though the number two seed in the West is pretty much wrapped up at this point. Wemby just had a 41 point, 16 rebound and 3 blocks game in just 31 mins as the Spurs won their 9th game in a row. Their Net Rating during this win streak is an impressive +18 points, so it’s no wonder they’re once again double-digit favorites at Chase Center on Wednesday. The interesting part is, they have 2 defeats in 3 meetings with the Warriors this year, however in both those wins Stephen Curry went off for 46 and 49 points. In the lone meeting without him, San Antonio dominated by 13 points.
Everything hinges on Curry’s return for the Warriors, although he is close to coming back, there’s still no definitive date set for that to happen. To say that it’s been a struggle without him would be an understatement – the offensive rating falls off by almost 9 points per 100 possessions when Steph is out. The Warriors do have 3 wins in their last 4 games, but those came against Dallas, Brooklyn and Washington, not exactly competitive teams at this point of the season. They just got blown out by the Denver Nuggets 116-93, failing to cover for the 6th time in 7 games. Judging by their run of 6 games in a row without covering at home, it could be a struggle against San Antonio as well.
This is all about Wemby and him making his MVP case. The Spurs are showing no mercy, they are just the better team overall here and should dominate right from the get go. Golden State is 2 games away from the 9th seed with 7 left to play, they’ll be demoralized after last night’s Trail Blazers win against the Clippers. I’ll go with the safer option here and back San Antonio.
Spurs vs Warriors prediction: Spurs -13.5 (-110) available at time of publishing. Playable at that number.