More Golden State Warriors Small Ball For This Clippers Series? (Photo: Christian Petersen/Getty Images North America)
Through two games, Golden State Warriors fans have seen the best and worst from their team. Now with the series shifting to Oracle, and becoming a best-of-five, the Warriors face match-up questions on the best way to effectively counter the Los Angeles Clippers Game 2 demolition.
Losing Andrew Bogut indefinitely for the foreseeable future is a large blow for the Warriors. While backup center Jermaine O’Neal has done an admirable job all season, both off the bench and in place of Bogut, O’Neal is 35 years old, in his 18th season, and with neither the legs to play a full 48 minutes in Bogut’s absence. The Warriors do not have a viable alternative as a true center behind him, either.
Going into the series, the Warriors knew they would have to go small for stretches. Prior to the playoffs Mark Jackson said, “It’s a lineup we’re going to have to use at some point and I’m fine with using it.”
Through two games, the Warriors have utilized the Draymond Green, David Lee front-line only 10:48 out of 96 minutes, with only 4:20 of it featuring Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala in addition.
The reasons for not utilizing that five-man unit often to date in this series are beyond Jackson’s control. Iguodala had foul trouble in Game 1 and Thompson had foul trouble in Game 2.
Still, when we look over the course of the season, it has produced one of the best +/-‘s in the entire NBA:
The Curry/Thompson/Iguodala/Green/Lee lineup has scored 128.3 and allowed 91.0 points per 100 possessions (league average is 106.7) — (stats per nbawow.com)
Curry, Thompson, Lee and Green are all shooting well above their perspective season averages in it. The reason is fairly obvious, the lineup features four players who play beyond the 3-point line.
This opens up the court and gives every player a little extra space to operate, be it a Curry pull up jumper, a Lee cut to the basket or a simple drive-and-kick to Thompson.
Defensively, it hasn’t found itself vulnerable due to the outstanding wing defense of Iguodala, Thompson and Green. While the lineup lacks a rim protector, it does feature the two best rated defensive small forwards per ESPN’s new metric, RPM, and Thompson, who’s on-ball defense has disrupted point guards all season and thrown offenses out of rhythm.
So why doesn’t Jackson start it?
Before we go forward, it must be noted, the lineup has only played 113 minutes on the season. Mixing in other perimeter combinations, such as Harrison Barnes in Iguodala’s place, or Steve Blake or Jordan Crawford in one of the guard roles, the Green/Lee frontline has seen around 300 minutes, with diminishing returns if Iguodala is not in.
The sample size is very small. Jackson likely utilized the lineup against opposing teams who went small or lacked major production out of their 4 or 5 spot.
The Clippers, more than any team, are not small or lacking production from their front court spots. As noted, as a combo, Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan lead all frontcourts in rebounding, are second in scoring, and first in scoring around the rim.
In Game 1, the Warriors did an good job of getting Blake Griffin into foul trouble, leaving him on the bench for all but 19 minutes. In Game 2, that was not the case, and the Warriors got to see just how destructive the Clippers’ starting frontcourt could be.
The Warriors are likely to be undersized with any front court combo. O’Neal does give the Warriors size to match Jordan, but he’s also ten years older and not nearly as quick as him.
Without his starting center and defense anchor, Jackson is forced to mix and match lineups and schemes to try and make life difficult for the Clippers front line.
If the Warriors do go with the undersized frontcourt for stretches, Iguodala and Thompson likely need to be on the floor. Those two with Green play aggressive perimeter defense and can deny the ball, play the passing lanes to avoid the Clippers throwing it inside, a throwback to the “We Believe” Warriors strategy under former coach Don Nelson.
Going small with Green and Lee upfront is an option but as Jackson noted, without Bogut, it will take more than just one player, one lineup to neutralize opponents.
“The thing we have to make sure we do is battle defensively when we go with that lineup, because there’s no Bogut, there’s no Jermaine (O’Neal), no Festus (Ezeli),” Jackson said, “A big guy protecting the paint area. So we have to make multiple effort plays protecting the paint and rebounding the basketball. It’s not just those two guys’ responsibility. We have to do a good job of it collectively.”
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