Grant Cohn: Breaking down the Warriors-Spurs playoff series

Sure, the Warriors lost by 40 points in their regular-season finale. And yeah, they lost 10 of their final 17 games, and played awful defense during that stretch, and bickered publicly.

Like the time Steve Kerr blamed his players for not playing hard enough. Or, the time Kevin Durant blamed Kerr for hurting team morale by not making better game plans and not settling on a starting rotation.

For more than a month, the Warriors seemed to be collapsing without their best player, Stephen Curry.

But, that month doesn't matter anymore.

Right?

The Warriors are in the playoffs now, and will turn things around and beat the San Antonio Spurs, who aren't that good.

Right?

The Warriors lucked out drawing the Spurs in the first round.

Right?

Let's break down the matchups and find out.

Point guard: Dejounte Murray vs. Quinn Cook.

This would be a big advantage for the Warriors if they had Curry, but he'll miss this series with a sprained MCL. His replacement, Quinn Cook, started the season in the G League, has played only 47 games in the NBA and has no playoff experience.

Cook's strength is his shot. He made 44.2 percent of his 3-pointers in 33 games with the Warriors this season. His counterpart, Dejounte Murray, made only nine 3s all season. Cook has the shooting advantage in this matchup.

But Murray is an excellent defender, and he's 6-5. Cook is only 6-2. Cook could struggle shooting over the bigger, longer Murray.

And Cook could struggle guarding him. Murray is a terrific ball handler who's extremely quick. Cook is not so quick. If Cook can't keep Murray out of the lane, the Warriors may keep Cook on the bench and use a better defender in his place.

Advantage: Spurs.

Shooting guard: Danny Green vs. Klay Thompson

Green and Thompson are similar players.

Both are big guards — Green is 6-6, Thompson is 6-7. Both shoot well. And both play good defense.

But, Thompson plays better defense, and Thompson shoots a higher percentage, and Thompson is a four-time All-Star, while Green is a no-time All-Star.

Advantage: Warriors.

Small forward: Kyle Anderson vs. Kevin Durant

Let's see, the best small forward in the Western Conference versus Kawhi Leonard's backup. Hmmm.

Durant averages 26.4 points and makes 41.9 percent of his 3s. Leonard's backup averages 9.7 points and makes 33 percent of his 3s. Hmmm.

This matchup would be interesting if Leonard were in it. He probably won't be, although the Spurs haven't ruled him out. He missed 73 games this season. He is the Spurs' best offensive and defensive player, and he gives Durant problems. Kyle Anderson will not give Durant problems. He will give Durant open shots.

The Spurs will have to try to guard Durant with someone other than Anderson.

Advantage: Warriors.

Power forward: LaMarcus Aldridge vs. Draymond Green

This is the most important matchup on the court.

Aldridge is the Spurs' best offensive player while Leonard is out. And Green is the best Warriors defender. Whoever wins this matchup very well could decide the winner of the series.

Last season, Green owned Aldridge in the playoffs. Shut him down. Aldridge averaged only 15.5 points and 5.8 rebounds, and shot 41.2 percent from the field, and the Warriors swept the Spurs.

Things have changed since then.

Green was the Defensive Player of the Year last season. This season, he isn't even a candidate for the award. His defense may have regressed.

Aldridge had one of the worst seasons of his career in 2016-2017 — he missed the All-Star game for the first time since 2012. This season, he's having the best season of his career. Shooting 51 percent, and averaging 23.1 points and 8.5 rebounds.

And, he's playing particularly well against the Warriors. Aldridge averaged 26.8 points and 11 rebounds in four meetings against them this season. Green played in all four of those games. Aldridge owned him and the rest of the Warriors.

I'm assuming that will change in this series. Green seemed to be pacing himself during the regular season. He won't pace himself against the Spurs. He'll play hard.

Advantage: Warriors.

Center: Pau Gasol vs. The Warriors Pupu platter of centers

Steve Kerr still hasn't said who he'll start at center against the Spurs. Says he wants to keep his starter a mystery. Which is strange, because the Warriors are the defending champions, and the Warriors are the favorites to win this series. Usually, the underdog is the one scrambling to match up with the better team and use mystery as a strategy.

The Warriors will rotate the following seven players at center: Zaza Pachulia, JaVale McGee, David West, Kevon Looney, Jordan Bell, Damian Jones and Draymond Green.

The Spurs will feature Pau Gasol, who used to be a great player. Now, he isn't. He's 37 years old, but still rebounds well. He averaged 8 rebounds this season. No one on the Warriors averaged more than 7.6 rebounds, and none of the Warriors centers averaged more than 5 rebounds.

Advantage: Spurs.

Bench vs. bench

The Spurs have two good shooters on their bench — Patty Mills and Davis Bertans. The Warriors have only one good bench shooter — Nick Young.

But, the Warriors have two good bench defenders – Andre Iguodala and Shaun Livingston. And the Spurs have no good bench defenders. They have old has-beens such as Manu Ginobili, Tony Parker and Rudy Gay.

Advantage: Warriors.

Coach vs. coach

Except for the center and point-guard positions, the Warriors have a decidedly better roster than the Spurs. The Warriors should win this series.

But the Spurs have the best coach in the NBA, Gregg Popovich. Popovich lost his best player, and kept his team focused and disciplined. Kerr lost his best player, and did not keep his team focused and disciplined.

The Warriors don't play as hard as the Spurs.

Advantage: Spurs.

'I'm excited to play these guys,' Kerr said Friday after practice. 'They're going to bring out the best in us, or they're going to just completely expose us. One way or another, that's probably a good thing for us.'

With all due respect to Kerr, it's his job to bring out the best in his players. Time to step up.

Prediction: Warriors in five games.

Grant Cohn covers the 49ers for The Santa Rosa Press Democrat and Pressdemocrat.com. You can reach him at grantcohn@gmail.com.