All Star David Lee left with a torn hip flexor only 29 minutes into his first career playoff game Saturday, effectively ending his postseason. Without Lee, the Warriors will have to rely on Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Jarrett Jack to generate offense against a speedy Nuggets team that struggled to defend the three point shot all season long. In particular, Curry and Jack will have to bounce back from below average Game 1 shooting performances, especially if the Warriors lose their rebounding advantage with the return of Denver’s Kenneth Faried.

Apr 20, 2013; Denver, CO, USA; Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry (30) hits a game tying three point shot with 14.5 seconds left as Denver Nuggets guard Ty Lawson (3) defends during the second half of game one of the first round of the 2013 NBA Playoffs at the Pepsi Center. The Nuggets won97-95. Mandatory Credit: Chris Humphreys-USA TODAY Sports

Despite an expected fall-off in team rebounds, Lee’s injury could actually help the Warriors defensively – Denver averaged 104.3 points per 48 minutes with Lee on the court this season, compared to just 93.7 points when he sits. The power forward’s deficiencies on defense were most apparent in the paint, where the Nuggets shot 48 percent (21-of-44), a 12 point improvement over the team’s season average (36 percent; 253-of-711).

Of course, whatever strides the Warriors take on defense will come at the expense of their offense, where the Nuggets allowed 101.8 points per 100 possessions against lineups featuring Lee. With Lee gone, Golden State’s offensive rating against Denver plummets to 91.2 points per 100 possessions, which is indicative of just how important he is to the team’s ability to score.

Making up for Lee’s absence poses a challenge for Mark Jackson, particularly when you consider the pieces he has to work with.

“We have a lot of options, and we’ll move forward and make a decision (Tuesday) night,” Jackson said, according to a SFGate.com. “We can go with a true power forward in Carl Landry, we can go Draymond Green, we can go Harrison Barnes, we can go Richard Jefferson, we can go Festus Ezeli, we can go Jarrett Jack, so the options are there.”

All of the players Jackson lists have strengths, but Golden State cannot rely on any of them to score, rebound and pass as effectively as Lee had over the course of the season. The two most obvious choices to start at power forward would be Barnes or Landry. Lineups featuring Landry  score well (105.3 points per 100 possessions), but they also give up an untenable 107.2 points per 100 possessions. And as great as it is to watch Harrison Barnes dunk his way across the league, the former North Carolina star remains an unpolished talent whose basketball IQ hasn’t caught up to his obvious physical gifts.

The Lee-Bogut interior combination creates a lot of pick-and-roll opportunities for Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson, and Lee’s efficiency from mid-range adds another layer to the Warriors offense that defenses could ignore if a woefully inefficient Harrison Barnes were to play the four. And although Landry can score at the basket and from the baseline, he does not play as well from the elbows, severely limiting the Warriors options moving.

In any case, the Warriors will likely rely on smaller, speedier offenses to generate offense moving forward in the series.

WHO: Golden State Warriors vs. Denver Nuggets

WHERE: Denver

WHEN:  7:30 PM, TNT

AT STAKE: The Warriors will look to even up the series without All Star power forward David Lee.

PLAYER TO WATCH: After a disappointing Game 1, expect Stephen Curry to shoot early and often.

PREDICTION: No Lee, no win. Warriors lose to Denver 105-98.

Father time, like ball, don’t lie.

The New York Knicks will be without 38-year old Rasheed Wallace when they face the Golden State Warriors in Madison Square Garden Wednesday night. Wallace will miss approximately eight weeks after undergoing surgery later this week to repair a broken foot.

Not that Wallace’s absence really matters to Golden State; the veteran forward has averaged only .388 from the field in 20 games this year.

The Warriors’ most pressing concern will be stopping the man Wallace plays behind – Carmelo Anthony. Melo has scored 29 and 32 points in his last two games despite being held to only .405 shooting (and going only 1-for-7 from beyond the arc).

Matching up against Melo will be especially difficult if David Lee scratches prior to tip-off. The Warriors’ starting power forward is questionable after sustaining a severe bruise from a collision with Orlando Johnson in Tuesday’s (sorta kinda) slugfest with the Indiana Pacers. Lee’s presence would be missed – the former Knick has played well in two previous matchups against New York, averaging 20.5 points on .600 shooting with 7.5 rebounds, according to Yahoo Sports.

Although forward Carl Landry has played excellently off the bench, the Warriors will lack size and depth if Lee’s shoulder bruise forces him to sit. Golden State has struggled against big men like Al Jefferson, Nikola Peković and Roy Hibbert since the All Star break, and none of those guys play on the same level as Tyson Chandler, who leads league starters with a .661 FG percentage. Chandler will likely match-up against the dynamic (not really) duo Festus Ezeli and Andris Biedrins, both of whom have proven to be occasionally effective disrupters down low. However, their shared lack of offense creates a host of problems for Stephen Curry, Jarrett Jack and Klay Thompson on the other end of the court. Chandler, whose help defense is par excellence, will have no problem abandoning either Ezeli or Biedrins to close potential driving lanes.

Even if Lee does play, the Warriors will likely have to hope for another career night from Curry, who shot the lights out in Indiana. Curry’s 14-of-20 night (with 7 threes) kept the Warriors in the game up until the scuffle that resulted in Hibbert’s rejection. His teammates shot a paltry .339 against the Pacers, thanks in large part to an ice cold Jarrett Jack (11 points, 2-of-10 from the field).

Golden State has its work cut out for it tonight. If Lee plays, that could present some difficulties for New York’s veteran (read: really, really old) defenders. If he doesn’t, the pressure’s on for Steph Curry and the rest of the Golden State to make up the 19 points and 11.1 rebounds per game he’s averaged this year.

WHO: Golden State Warriors vs. New York Knicks

WHERE: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York

WHEN: Wednesday, 5:00 p.m. PST, ESPN

PLAYER TO WATCH: Carmelo Anthony. After going 1-of-7 in his previous two outings, expect Golden State’s weak perimeter defense to help Melo heat up beyond the arc.

PREDICTION: Knicks 104 – Warriors 97. Golden State can’t afford to go cold against Carmelo and the Knicks. With Lee questionable, the Warriors will need big rebounding numbers from Carl Landry and Draymond Green and better shooting from everybody else.