Bench Unit’s Toughness Key to Warriors’ Success
Sometimes, Stephen Curry just doesn’t have it. Sometimes, Klay Thompson doesn’t either.
Last season, those were games in which the Warriors never really had a chance to win. The 2014-15 version of the Golden State Warriors is showing that the bench unit is more than capable of carrying the load when the team’s leaders are off their game.
Sunday night’s game against the struggling Oklahoma City Thunder is the perfect example of that. On a night where the Splash Brothers combined for 35 points on 11-of-35 shooting, Draymond Green scored 10 points, Harrison Barnes put up a goose egg, and Andrew Bogut left early with an injury, the Warriors could have accepted that this wasn’t a game for them to win. In fact, last year’s Warriors probably wouldn’t have pulled off the tough 91-86 victory. On a night where the starters could not get the lid off the basket (especially in the second half), the Warriors managed to win.
Remember the “Mo Speights Game” from last year? Yes, that Mo Speights game. He set his career high in points, but he did it at home against the lowly Philadelphia. It was fun (and I love to find reasons to bring it up), but his performance against the Thunder was more impressive. In 25 minutes, Speights finished with 28 points on 11-of017 shooting while also grabbing 7 boards and getting to the line 9 times.
This is how the Warriors won: Speights played a great game. Andre Iguodala scored some huge baskets down the stretch including a beautiful and-one lay up. Shaun Livingston was able to make some plays passing out of the low post. Even Festus Ezeli, who still hasn’t managed to completely shake off the 18 month rust, still played hard banging down low with the likes of Steven Adams, Kendrick Perkins, and Serge Ibaka. While both the starters and the officials seemed to lose grasp off the game, the bench unit matched OKC’s physicality and battled.
If the Warriors want to be serious title contenders, they’re going to need this type of performance from the bench. Now, they didn’t play a perfect game and they did look bad for stretches, but they still managed to carry the Warriors to the W when the stars needed the help most. By now, everyone who watches NBA basketball knows that Golden State’s starters play some aesthetically pleasing basketball. They shoot the three and pass from the high post and play with a certain flair. The second unit can’t do that. Sure, Iguodala has some swagger when he gets it going, but the bench unit is going to grind. Not every game is going to be an easy November win against the Lakers or Jazz. In the Western Conference, every night is going to be tough; even a Sunday night game against the Durant-and-Westbrook-less Thunder.
A lot of times this team is going to win wit Curry shooting the ball at a high level or Andrew Bogut sending back shots. However, there will be nights when that won’t be there. Then the Warriors are going to have to get creative. Sometimes getting the win will require Speights to carry the offensive load or Barbosa to drive and get contact or Livingston to draw a double team in the post. Sometimes Iguodala might have to play aggressively while Ezeli might come in to be a physical presence. Once David Lee returns from injury, he’ll be expected to match the physicality and intensity that the second unit has started to display. It’s safe to say that this year’s bench is much better than last year’s and the Warriors have learned the hard way that it’s impossible to win without depth.
Wins like the one that Warriors pulled off against OKC mean just a little bit more than the standings indicate — it shows that this is a team that won’t back down even when its starting five is not playing to its full ability.