Golden State Warriors should start Death lineup
By Paul Matli
The Warriors should start their Death Lineup in Game 4.
The Warriors should start their death lineup in Game 4.
This shouldn’t be up for debate, it’s their best lineup. The Warriors are in a must win situation in Game 4. This means Steve Kerr needs to play his best lineup and players for as many minutes possible.
Starting this lineup is something Kerr doesn’t want to do, but will at some point in this series. Andrew Bogut, Festus Ezeli and Anderson Varejao have been ineffective. Bogut and Ezeli chose the wrong series to be ineffective. The Thunder bigs have killed the Warriors centers all series.
The Warriors can combat Steven Adams by playing small consistently. They might give up some offensive rebounds, but so what. The Warriors will be better defensively and more athletic. Also, Adams would get tired chasing Stephen Curry around the perimeter for 40 minutes.
Another reason the Death Lineup should be started is the presence of Russell Westbrook. Westbrook finally did what he should have been doing the whole series, driving the ball to the basket at full speed.
Westbrook set the tempo with his incredible athleticism and speed. The Warriors didn’t stop the ball and he made them pay. This was the biggest reason the Warriors got blown out. They weren’t athletic enough with Bogut, Ezeli and Varejao to stop Westbrook attacking. With Draymond Green at center the Warriors will be able to keep Westbrook contained even if he drives the length of the court full speed.
Stopping Westbrook is the key to the series. Kevin Durant it going to score, but if Westbrook gets off like he did in game 3, the Warriors will lose game 4, unless Curry goes super-hero alien mode.
It’s unclear whether Kerr will pull this rabbit out of his hat. He did against the Cavaliers in game 4 of the NBA Finals and it worked beautifully. If Kerr does change the starting lineup around it will have a profound impact.
The Thunder have seen this lineup throughout the course of the series. However, they haven’t seen this lineup to start a game. Starting the game with the death lineup creates a different tempo and feel. It will allow the Warriors to switch every screen, and keep multiple defenders in the lane so Westbrook can’t drive.
Going small puts more pressure on the Warriors to gang rebound. This isn’t a huge deal as rebounding is all about effort and how much you want the ball. The Warriors can rebound with the Thunder if they want to, this is the perfect game to want to.
Some might say inserting Andre Iguodala is a sign of desperation. It’s not, it simply means the Warriors putting their five best players on the floor at the same time. Game 4 is a must win for the Warriors. If they win and gain home court back, people will quickly forget about the game 3 disaster.
Kerr, start the death lineup, it will change the series in the Warriors favor again.