Warriors focus on Kawhi Leonard with Tim Duncan sidelined
San Antonio is 56-10 against the Warriors since Tim Duncan entered the league in 1997.
The power forward will sit out Monday’s much-ballyhooed game between the teams with a sore right knee.
“Tim is 57 years old, so he deserves a night off, every once in a while,” Warriors head coach Steve Kerr joked after Sunday’s practice.
San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich told reporters that all other Spurs will be available, unless somebody gets lost tonight. …
The chances of the coach getting lost are the biggest.
Warriors power forward Draymond Green said: I expect seven of their guys to be at home. ...
With all of the jokes out of the way, the comical reactions to Duncan’s absence seriously indicate just how much things have changed in San Antonio on the eve of tilt between the NBA’s top two teams.
[...] an NBA Finals MVP and the league’s Defensive Player of the Year, Kawhi Leonard passed Green in the fans’ final All-Star voting to grab the Western Conference’s third frontcourt starting spot.
In his fifth season, Leonard is averaging career highs in scoring (20 points per game) and three-point shooting (47.8 percent).
At 6-foot-7, 230 pounds and with smarts, strength and quickness, he’s capable of defending any position.
“He’s probably the best two-way player in the league now,” Kerr said.
The Warriors have a couple of versatile defenders with Swiss-Army-knife skills on offense in Green and Andre Iguodala.
Both show great respect to Leonard’s emergence.
“He’s a young kid, and he has the presence of an ’80s-type player or the early ’90s,” Iguodala said.
Leonard said he’ll get matched against MVP Stephen Curry in transition at times Monday, and he expects to be assigned to defending the Warriors’ point guard in some halfcourt sets.
San Antonio point guard Tony Parker will get the first shot at Curry.
Rusty Simmons is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer.
League rankings indicated in parenthesis
The Warriors’ 38-game home winning streak is tied for third longest in league history, six behind the ’95-96 Bulls’ record of 44. ...
The Spurs have won 55 of the past 63 regular-season meetings. ,
Regular-season hype:
The Warriors and Spurs have a combined .886 winning percentage — the best-ever mark between opponents this late in an NBA season.
The Spurs are atop the NBA in scoring margin (plus-14.5), and the Warriors are second (12.1).
The Spurs are No. 1 in defensive rating, allowing 93.5 points per 100 possessions, and the Warriors are second (99.0).
The Warriors are first in offensive rating, scoring 112.7 points per 100 possessions, and the Spurs are third (108.8).
“It’s like playing yourself, in a way,” San Antonio head coach Gregg Popovich said.
Home-court advantage?
The Warriors have won 38 consecutive regular-season games at home, including a 110-99 victory over San Antonio on Feb. 20.
Warriors head coach Steve Kerr played for Popovich and with Spurs power forward Tim Duncan from 1998 through 2001 and 2002-03.
David West is expected to start in place of Tim Duncan, who is sidelined with a sore right knee.
In his 13th season, West is shooting a career-high 56.3 percent from the floor.