A must see game

The defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors continue to cruise along. Just when you think they might be showing vulnerability -- see their loss at the hands of the not-so good Detroit Pistons -- they'll come roaring back. See how they put a 31 point woodshed whuppin on Lebron and the Cavaliers (in Cleveland) a couple days later. Then went into Chicago and demolished the Bulls. Needless to say, a 40-4 record speaks for itself.

The Warriors have rightfully got a lot of attention so far this year. When they "get it going" in any particular game, which is often, they can pretty much run any other team out of the building -- be it at home or on the road.

But while the Oakland Boys have been grabbing the spotlight, another usual suspect lurks not far behind.

Enter the San Antonio Spurs. At last look, they were only 2 games behind the high-flying Warriors. Granted, they play in different divisions, but both are obviously in the Western Conference and there will come a time when the playoffs start as to who gets home-court advantage. It would seem these two teams are destined to clash sometime in late May or early June.

How important is home-court advantage? Neither team has lost a single home game this year so far. True, it's only slightly past the half-way point of the regular season, and no NBA team -- ever -- has gone through an entire year without getting beat at home. So chances are, both the Warriors and Spurs will taste defeat on their home courts somewhere along the line before the playoffs start.

But for right now, a must-see game is coming up Monday night. San Antonio visits Golden State. The defending champs/Splash Brothers host the quiet but deadly efficiency and team play of Coach Pop's boys.

Something has to give. Also true is in the whole scheme of things, perhaps this one game doesn't matter THAT much. They will play a rematch in San Antonio not long after. Perhaps they'll "split" and get on with the rest of their regular seasons clobbering most everybody else.

After all, it's not like the NFL conference championship games on tap Sunday. Whoever loses those games is done for the year, while the winners go on to the Super Bowl. Golden State and San Antonio will still have almost half a season left to slog through. A lot of things can happen during that time -- not the least being injuries to key players. You never know.

But you indeed know the Spurs and Warriors will both bring their "A games" trying to knock off the other and send a message on Monday.

It should be quite the contest indeed.

Bring it on.