A packed house at Oakland's Oracle Arena had arrived hoping to see new signee Kevin Durant take his place among the most potent offense in the NBA.
But while Durant enjoyed a solid enough scoring league debut, with 27 points, the Warriors were comprehensively outplayed by a Spurs side who looked sharper in almost every department.
Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson both failed to hit the heights of their best form of last year, when they helped the Warriors to a historic NBA record of 73 wins against only nine losses.
Thompson was particularly off-color, making only one three-pointer from six attempts with Curry sinking only three of 10 in his haul of 26 points.
Instead it was San Antonio who seized control from the contest early on, grabbing a 31-20 lead by the end of the first quarter which they were never to relinquish.
By half-time the Spurs had taken a commanding 64-46 lead and were always able to keep the Warriors at arm's length as they sought to rally thereafter.
While Leonard was outstanding, demonstrating his readiness to step into the leadership role vacated by the retired Tim Duncan, the Spurs also benefited from a dazzling performance from LaMarcus Aldridge, who chipped in with 26 points, 14 rebounds and three assists.
Jonathon Simmons also stood out with 20 points from his 28 minutes on the court while veteran Manu Ginobili also made double figures with 10 points.
Curry described the mauling as a "slap in the face" but vowed to produce a response in Friday's road game against the New Orleans Pelicans.
"It's a nice little slap in the face," Curry said. "First game you want to come out and protect your own court and have that energy of a home opener. I just felt we didn't have that energy," added Curry, who finished with 26 points.
"I'm not going to over-exaggerate the vibe but you've got to kind of bounce back. We have a lot of work to do, but I think we're still in a pretty good spot."
source: www.abs-cbnnews.com
