Duncan comes off the bench for 1st time in 6 seasons vs. Warriors

The San Antonio Spurs are pulling out all the stops to extend their 32-game home win streak against the Golden State Warriors.

In lieu of the Warriors' spate of frontcourt injuries, Gregg Popovich will bring center Tim Duncan off the bench in Saturday's historic showdown with the reigning champions.

The speedier Boris Diaw started in Duncan's place alongside LaMarcus Aldridge. Presumably, Popovich's idea is to put more speed on the court to match the Warriors' unstoppable small-ball schemes. The Spurs have been successful all season in large part due to their dominance in the paint, but the Warriors are a special case.

Saturday marks just the third instance of Duncan coming off the bench in 1,381 career regular-season games. The future Hall of Famer last came off the bench on Jan. 3, 2010 in a loss to the Toronto Raptors.