Will San Antonio's Arena Continue To Be Warriors Kryptonite?
OAKLAND (CBS SF) – If this were a comic book world, this year's Golden State Warriors would be Superman and San Antonio's AT&T Center would be their kryptonite.
The Warriors have not won a regular season game in San Antonio since Valentine's Day 1997. That's 32 straight games – the second longest such streak in NBA history.
The only longer such streak is the Sacramento Kings 43 straight losses to the Los Angeles Lakers from 1975-92.
To put that in a little perspective. Reigning NBA MVP Steph Curry was just 8-years-old. Bill Clinton had just begun his second term in office and Microsoft purchased $150 million in shares of Apple stock to help the then financially ailing Silicon Valley giant.
The Warriors did win a playoff game in San Antonio back in 2013 – so it hasn't been a complete shutout and they defeated the Spurs at Oracle this season by forcing 26 turnovers to come away with a 120-90 win.
But the stakes have grown since that Jan. 25th contest.
Golden State had a 61-6 record coming into the Dallas game Friday night and were undefeated at home. San Antonio has a 58-10 record and is also undefeated at home.
Home court in the playoffs could be a major determining factor if the two teams meet in the Western Conference finals.
"It'll be a great matchup for us, two of the best records in the league, and they're playing exceptionally well," Spurs star Tim Duncan told ESPN.com. "So it's a good test for us; a playoff type of atmosphere, playoff type of intensity, a good experience for us. But I'll leave it at that."
Warriors coach Steve Kerr told the San Francisco Chronicle that Golden State was not going to look ahead to the nationally televised Saturday night showdown and forget about Friday's game against Dallas.
"I think you just try to win the one in front of you, take care of business and then move on to the next one," Kerr told the paper. "We're not backing off in any way (Friday) night, in order to prepare for anything else… We're just worried about (Friday). That's it."