For the second straight season, the Golden State Warriors will face the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference playoffs. However, the circumstances of their playoff series could not be more different. The Warriors faced the Spurs in last year's Western Conference Finals, and the Spurs would probably have been Golden State's biggest challenge had Kawhi Leonard not gotten injured.

This season, both teams are in much dicier situations due to injuries. The Warriors have gone 7-10 since their March 8th victory over San Antonio, and Stephen Curry is not expected to play in the first round. The Spurs are arguably in worse shape, as their best player managed only nine games during the regular season and is also unlikely to suit up for the first round. Both teams are on shakier ground than they have been in years heading into this year's playoffs, despite being two of the more consistently elite NBA teams over the past five years.

Season Series: Golden State 3-1 over San Antonio

The Golden State Warriors were the better team overall in the season series, but that season series might not say all that much about the upcoming series. While the Warriors did win three of four games, they lost the most recent game against the Spurs on March 19th. The Warriors managed just 75 points in that game, their lowest point total of the season.

Then again, Golden State's top three scorers (Curry, Durant, and Klay Thompson) all missed this contest. Draymond Green did not score a single point in twelve first-half minutes and then sat out the second half. While the surface-level view would indicate some issues for the Warriors (only the Miami Heat held the Warriors to a lower scoring average across their games this season), a deeper look shows some mitigating circumstances that make the Spurs appear more threatening than they probably will be in this series.

Scouting Report: Golden State Warriors

The Golden State Warriors are entering this first-round series without their best player, but that does not mean that their strategy will be drastically different. The Warriors did not finish the season with the league's best offensive rating (that honor belongs to the top-seeded Houston Rockets), but they averaged a league-leading 113.5 points per game due to their top-five pace of play.

The Warriors are certainly solid on the defensive end, but their path to victory will be through their offense. Even without Curry, Golden State will still look to put up a lot of shots from beyond the arc and bury the Spurs in triples.

Scouting Report: San Antonio Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs are in many ways the opposite of the Warriors. They play at the league's third-slowest pace and grind teams down on the offensive end with their mid-range and post-heavy attack. LaMarcus Aldridge is in the middle of an unexpectedly robust comeback season and is the hub of the Spurs offense with Kawhi Leonard still on the sidelines.

Dejounte Murray is quickly becoming one of the league's best guard defenders, an honor that Danny Green has held for years. Even without Kawhi and even with Pau Gasol playing heavy minutes, San Antonio's best chance of winning this series is to contain the Warriors' long-range attack while making just enough mid-range jumpers to carry themselves to a low-scoring win.

3 Keys to Victory

1. Kevin Durant takes advantage of Kawhi Leonard's absence and racks up points against his overmatched opponents at small forward.

2. Klay Thompson fights through San Antonio's excellent defensive guard rotation or at least draws enough attention behind the arc to allow the rest of the Warriors to get open.

3. The JaVale McGee/Jordan Bell tandem take advantage of their athleticism advantage over Pau Gasol.

Key Matchup

The most important matchup in this series will be down low, as Golden State's primary focus needs to be on making sure that Draymond Green can LaMarcus Aldridge under wraps. Aldridge has played more of the season at center than power forward, and the 6'11" big man will be a challenge for the Warriors regardless of who draws him as their primary defensive assignment.

The Warriors will probably have Draymond spend most of the game on Aldridge, with Jordan Bell/JaVale McGee/David West covering him whenever Green sits. With Kawhi Leonard presumably out for the rest of the season, Aldridge is really the only serious offensive threat that the Spurs have at their disposal.

Series Prediction

The San Antonio Spurs are the kind of team that could theoretically cause the Golden State Warriors some problems. The Warriors' biggest problem all season has been focusing (or caring) enough to win against teams that should be able to dominate. The Spurs under Gregg Popovich are better than anyone else at taking advantage of their opponents' mistakes, and could conceivably win this series by forcing the Curry-less Warriors into enough mistakes to win.

However, the Warriors still have enough firepower even without Curry to beat basically anyone in the league. Golden State has been playing low-energy basketball for most of the year as they wait for the postseason to begin. Now that the playoffs are here, it seems very unlikely that San Antonio has much of a chance against them without Kawhi being involved.

Final Prediction: Golden State Warriors defeat San Antonio Spurs 4-1 to advance to the second round.