(Photo: Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
As the New Year approaches, let’s take our first Golden State Warriors review. It’s been three months into the season and it’s become hard to tell who our Dubs really are.
Are our Dubs the team of last week that’s tallied off five wins in a row including their “cowardly win”over the Los Angeles Clippers on Christmas Day?
Or are they the team that right before that winning streak, lost five of eight games including an inexcusable 104-102 loss at home to the San Antonio Spurs sans three of the Spurs star players?
When healthy and running on all cylinders we’ve seen what this Warriors team can do to the heavyweights of the league.
We’ve also seen how inept the Dubs can be when working with a depleted roster and an ineffective bench.
With the majority of the season left, there are many diverse endings this year can culminate in.
With that in mind, let’s explore what we know and what we don’t know, heading to the 2014 part of the schedule for the Warriors.
WHAT WE KNOW
1. The Warriors are much better with Andre Iguodala
If there was any doubt before the season, there is none now.
The Warriors are simply a much, much stronger team on both sides of the court when Iguodala is playing.
Their 5-7 win-loss record without him during his hamstring injury doesn’t even touch the surface of what he means to the team on the court.
Iguodala tightens the overall defense, allows Harrison Barnes to come off the bench and adds that extra penetration presence when the game is close and the Warriors are in need of another offensive weapon.
There’s no doubt a healthy Iguodala will mean everything to the team coming down the stretch and in the playoffs.
2. The bench is the Warriors one true “Achilles heel”
Obviously, the Warriors can ill-afford to lose any of their core stars (Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andrew Bogut, David Lee, Iguodala) to long- or even medium-term injury.
But welcome to the world of professional sports — who can afford key injuries?
That being said, the only true “Achilles heel” for the Dubs is their bench.
With the exception of Barnes, the Warriors bench has been for the most part inconsistent, ineffective and overall very concerning.
Countless times, Mark Jackson has asked that the bench either keep the momentum of the starters going and give them a well-needed rest or simply put the game away following a big lead.
Countless times this has been a failure.
Certainly, having early season injuries to Toney Douglas and Jermaine O’Neal hasn’t helped.
However, these are the reserves that the Warriors have “brought to the dance” and have to produce, healthy or not.
It’s one thing to overcome this during the early part of the season, but as the months wear on and the starters tire, the bench must become more productive or the Warriors playoff run will be a short one.
3. The Clippers are the Warriors biggest rival right now
Perhaps its the fact that both Mark Jackson and Clippers head coach Doc Rivers grew up outside of California, but both have stated that the Clips and Dubs are not rivals.
You could have fooled me as well as the combined populations of Los Angeles and the Bay Area.
One has only needed to watch any of the Warrior-Clipper games from this year or last to realize these two teams despise each other.
Blake Griffin calling the Warriors tough style of play “cowardly” only seemed to add fuel to the fire.
From the altercations, flagrant fouls, and ejections of recent matchups, these two squads appear to know that the path to a championship starts with ownership of the Pacific Division.
That means eliminating each other along the way.
Let’s just say not only should the remaining games between the two squads this season be quite entertaining, but a playoff series might be epic.
Next time, I’ll take a look at what we don’t know about the Warriors in the new year!
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
