Spurs star Manu Ginobili admits Warriors might be unbeatable -- for now
The San Antonio Spurs are 45-8 so far this season, on a historical pace to win 70 games and go down as one of the best regular-season teams in NBA history. That's amazing.
Unfortunately for San Antonio, compared to the 48-4 Golden State Warriors juggernaut, that's not good enough. Even one of the Spurs' most important players, Manu Ginobili, admits he's not sure Steph Curry and Co. are even beatable (via La Nacion and Pounding the Rock):
I know everyone is talking about how great Golden State is and we found out about it the hard way. People wonder what it would take to stop them and it really doesn’t seem possible. Obviously Curry can’t have a good night. But the rest of the team can’t have a good night either, like they had against us and in so many other games. I don’t know if there’s a way to beat them ...
The Warriors trounced the Spurs by 30 points on Jan. 25. Tim Duncan didn't suit up for that game, but there's little reason to believe he could've stopped the bleeding that much. Golden State has Stephen Curry on its roster. He's the best player in the world — easily the greatest shooter ever — with transcendent range that makes defending him all but impossible.
Of course, Ginobili, being the contender that he is, qualified Golden State's seeming invincibility by stating he wasn't sure the Warriors were beatable . . . for the time being:
... but for now I don’t care. I would in May or June. Beating them now only counts as one win, nothing more. They are going through a great stretch, playing truly extraordinary basketball and showing tremendous confidence and team spirit. But we’ll try to figure out how to beat them only when it’s do-or-die time.
Can San Antonio take down Golden State in a seven-game series? Sure, it's sports: Anything is possible. And even though Ginobili wrote these words today, that doesn't mean he'll maintain a fatalistic outlook midway through a playoff series.
The Spurs are the Spurs, which means counting them out is the dumbest thing you can do. Right now, they have their own superstar in Kawhi Leonard, and the best defense in the league. If healthy, they have as good a chance as anyone at slowing Curry's Warriors down.
The basketball gods need to let that series happen. Please. The world begs for it.
