warriors history golden state bench (Photo: http://elblogdejordanypippen.blogspot.com/2011/09/la-mano-izquierda-que-mecia-la-cuna.html)
In the NBA, your starting five can only take you so far.
Case in point, the Warriors this season.
From the loss of Jarrett Jack and Carl Landry to the additions of Toney Douglas (later traded) and Marreese Speights and finally Steve Blake, the Warriors have sought high and low to find the right combination to support it’s stellar starting five.
Most fans realize with out the proper reinforcements, the Warriors will not go far in the very stacked Western Conference. No past Warrior team has.
With that, let’s look back at the best Warrior benches in team history.
One quick note: The justification for these top benches are measured in pure subjective energy and passion displayed on the court that led to great team success. They are not measured in hardcore statistics, which much like a Corey Maggette stat line, only looked good on “paper”, but produced few victories.
4) 1974-75 Warriors – NBA Champions
The few Warrior fans who do remember the last title by the Bay, remember the contributions of starters Rick Barry, Clifford Ray and Phil Smith, but a team that wins less than 50 games en route to a title doesn’t do it with a five-man rotation.
Smith actually came off the bench as Charles Johnson began the season as starting shooting guard.
Rookie small forward Jamaal Wilkes (then known as Keith Wilkes) was a huge contributor as well as a solid big-man rotation of center George Johnson to back Ray in the middle.
Backup guards Jeff Mullins and Charles Dudley swarmed to the boards and made key assists and shots during the important “ugly” moments in wins over the Chicago Bulls and Washington Bullets in the Conference Finals and Championship series.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOGRY9YBcPo&w=560&h=315]3) 2006-07 Warriors – Lost in Western Conference Semifinals
Like many of Don Nelson‘s small and scrappy squads that wreaked havoc on other more imposing teams, this Dubs team was built with depth to continue to apply pressure and attack unmercifully.
As the #WeBelieve team caught fire towards the end of the year, the reserves made themselves more than visible.
After making teams deal with a Baron Davis, Stephen Jackson and Jason Richardson blitzkrieg, Nellie would go to the inter-changeable pieces of Matt Barnes, Mickael Pietrus and Andres Biedrins in the middle.
Minus “Beans”, all the reserves had the ability to push the pace, drive to the hole and nail daggers from beyond the arc. No doubt Davis and the starters were necessary to pull the upset over the heavily favored Dallas Mavericks.
Without that season’s bench, the club wouldn’t have been able to do it in six games, much less at all.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtRJ2uVrQJw&w=420&h=315]2) 2012-13 Warriors – Lost in Western Conference Semifinals
Seems just like yesterday. It pretty much was.
Appreciating last season’s Warriors bench can be measured either in the appreciation of how far the Warriors went in the playoffs or how anxious the fan base became when Jack and Landry bolted for understandably better, greener (as in the color of money) pastures.
When Stephen Curry and the “bigs” went out, Jack and Landry stepped in hugely and helped produce land mark playoff victories. When Jack and Landry left, the collective gasp of the fan base could be heard all the way to Los Angeles.
What’s often lost in those deflections are the contributions of Draymond Green and Festus Ezeli, who kept the playoff heartbeat ticking when the Denver Nuggets and San Antonio Spurs whittled large leads down to nothing.
They’re still here and should make a difference in this season’s playoffs.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLDfy0swPf8&w=560&h=315]1) 1990-91 Warriors – Lost in Western Conference Semifinals
Sarunas Marciulionis, Rod Higgins, Mario Elie and Tyrone Hill.
These names are not going to jump out at you. In fact, most of today’s current #DubNation fans may not have even heard of them.
However, in the beginning days of Nellie’s run-n-gun style, these reserves were the second wave that allowed the small-ball tactics of #RunTMC to remain fresh and continue to slay Goliaths.
Higgins, Ellie and Hill did all the dirty work, but Marciulionis was the force.
For pure lack of fear and utter strength, Marciulionis was a player that Nellie could bring in to weaken even the most ardent squads on both ends of the court.
He may be the best reserve the Warriors have ever seen and would later play a major role in leading his Lithuanian National Team to a Bronze medal in the 1992 Olympics.
He and his cohorts still reign as the best Warrior bench in history.
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