The Golden State Warriors have had a remarkable season this year in large part due to the reemergence of Andrew Bogut. The offense was running through him and was anchoring the defense. Since he has gone down with a knee injury, the offense has looked stagnant and the defense has not been as stout.
Without Bogut in the lineup, the Warriors are 5-3 after starting off the season 18-2. In seven of the eight games, Festus Ezeli has filled in for Bogut and has done an admirable job on both ends of the floor. He has served as a rim protector and post presence on offense. After the Warriors’ horrible performance against the Los Angeles Lakers without their superstar, Kobe Bryant, it was reported that Ezeli had sprained his ankle and would be questionable for the Christmas night clash with the Los Angeles Clippers.
This was a recipe for disaster for the Warriors as they dropped their second straight contest, 100-86, against the bigger and more athletic Clippers roster. Marreese Speights filled in for Ezeli and struggled against the bigger DeAndre Jordan at both ends of the floor. Usually a reliable shooter from the perimeter, Speights only shot 4-of-9 from the field, which he meant Jordan could stay in the lane and protect the rim, knowing that Speights wasn’t a threat from the outside. Speights also struggled on defense against the more athletic Jordan, grabbing only one defensive rebound and allowing Jordan to shoot 75 percent for the game.
But with all of this occurring, the Warriors lost their opportunity to win this game in the first half. Before the Clippers discovered they could dominate the smaller Warriors in the paint, the Clippers launched jump shot after jump shot in the first quarter. The result was a horrible 1 for 18 start from the field but Golden State could not take full advantage of the Clippers’ slow start, only taking a 10 point lead. The first quarter ended with the Warriors, leading by only two, missing a glorious opportunity to blow the game wide open.
In the second half, the Clippers finally figured out to exploit the smaller Warriors in the paint either by finishing at the rim or penetrating and dishing to an open shooter. The result was 20 points in the paint and 18 from beyond the arc. It doesn’t seem like a lot, but it fueled the Clippers to a blowout victory. Chris Paul and Jamal Crawford were relentless driving the lane, finding open jumpers for shooters and dunkers or finishing themselves at the rim. This was all because there was no big man to stop penetration, which may become a huge problem for this team going forward.
There were countless other reasons that contributed to the loss such as bad officiating, poor shooting and turnovers but the biggest reason the Warriors came up short was their lack of an inside presence on both ends of the floor. The Warriors will make the postseason just off their incredible shooting and lockdown defense but if they want to win a championship, they need some type of inside presence that can get easy baskets. Bogut is that player that can take them over the top and makes them a championship contender.
Now the only issue is getting him healthy for the stretch run, which is definitely not a given, but a necessity for this organization to contend for an NBA championship.