3 takeaways for Golden State after loss to Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs held the Golden State Warriors to just 79 points to hand the reigning champions their seventh loss of the season.

Here's what Warriors fans should know from Saturday's showdown with the unflappable Spurs.

What happened to Curry?

Stephen Curry's second battle with the Spurs went nothing like the first.

In their January meeting, Curry danced around the likes of Kawhi Leonard and Tony Parker en route to 37 points on 12-of-20 shooting from the field. He found almost no trouble at all getting his shot off against the toughest defense in the league.

This time, Curry was held to just 1-of-12 shooting from deep for 14 points in what was a miserable night for the reigning MVP. So what did the Spurs do differently?

For one, San Antonio got more physical against Curry. But not only did they press up on Curry, they were also smart about it. The Spurs had a body on him for the full 94 feet and trapped him in pick-and-rolls near half court.

While Curry was off the ball, the Spurs were diligent in tugging him around screens and maintaining contact throughout. San Antonio also communicated switches perfectly so that the Warriors' patented cross screens along the baseline were thwarted.

The cumulative effect of San Antonio's hounding served to wear Curry thin. He looked gassed in crunch time and not only did his threes miss, Curry's misses routinely drew short iron - a surefire sign that he was tired.

Another surefire sign that the Warriors were tired: They were playing on the second night of a back-to-back as part of a grueling stretch of six games in nine nights. Steve Kerr even admitted before the game that he contemplated resting his stars.

Altogether, the Spurs didn't necessarily invent any ingenious scheme to stop Curry. They just executed their game plan to perfection at every step, and the league's leading scorer couldn't keep up.

Hopefully for the Warriors, a little rest is all that's needed for Curry to find his stroke against the Spurs.

Related: 3 takeaways for Spurs in win over Warriors

No boards, no wins

Miami Heat president Pat Riley has a famous axiom that goes, "No Rebounds, No Rings," a pointed reminder of the importance of controlling possessions. It was a battle that the Warriors lost on Saturday.

Missing three frontcourt players in Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli, and Andre Iguodala, the Spurs tortured the Warriors to the tune of 14 offensive rebounds. The ensuing putbacks and kickouts for threes made up for the Warriors' plus-seven advantage in turnovers.

It was a smart move by Gregg Popovich to attack the glass while the Warriors went small. Not only were they missing their two centers, the sheer pounding that Boris Diaw and LaMarcus Aldridge delivered on the interior ground Draymond Green and Harrison Barnes to dust. So without any solid rebounders on the floor, the move to unleash Kawhi Leonard to skunk around for offensive rebounds (he had six) was a clever move by the Spurs who normally pass up second-chance points (they rank 23rd in offensive rebounding percentage).

The Warriors eventually adjusted by sending five players back for the rebound, but that cut into their lethal transition game. And with Leonard being the one to crash, Popovich still played it safe by having his older players recover in transition to dissuade any leak outs.

As a result, the Warriors had just 11 fast-break points - 10 off their season average. Golden State has to find a way to win the possessions battle.

Dictating tempo

In their first matchup, the Warriors controlled the pace and played at their preferred breakneck pace. On Saturday, it was the Spurs' turn to dictate tempo.

The Warriors are at their best when they speed up the game, but they weren't able to do that Saturday because they couldn't grab rebounds, and Curry was constantly hounded.

Had they been healthy, Golden State might have been able to impose its style. Having someone like Bogut to secure rebounds and to throw outlets would have allowed the Warriors to leak out behind the defense. Similarly, having Iguodala instead of the robotic Brandon Rush might have made for an easier target to spot in transition.

Regardless of the issue, Golden State needs to find a way to open up the court. The Spurs admitted before the game that the Warriors are far more athletic, and in order to fully actualize that, Golden State needs to play fast.