Harrison Barnes stepping up when Warriors need him most

Harrison Barnes, who often struggles, has stepped up in the NBA Finals and will need to do even more for the Warriors who will be without All-Star Draymond Green.

Throughout the postseason, Harrison Barnes has been relatively absent from the Golden State Warriors’ historic run.

While Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green have had huge games, Barnes has frustrated fans and critics until the Finals shifted to Cleveland. There, Barnes stepped up when the Warriors needed him most, averaging 16 points, grabbing eight rebounds per game while playing exceptional defense against LeBron James.

The Warriors will need him to step up even more with the news of Green being suspended for Game 5 at Oracle Arena on Monday night. This is a huge blow for the Warriors because Green is the heart and soul of the team and one of their best playmakers.

The Warriors will certainly replace him with Andre Iguodala, whose main objective will be to contain James and take Green’s role of playmaker. Barnes will have the task of most likely guarding often maligned Kevin Love, who will think he will have a mismatch against the smaller Barnes.

Even without Green making plays, Barnes should find himself in position to hit open shots, especially with Thompson and Curry rolling from the outside. The Cavaliers defense will be so concerned with the Splash Brothers that it will provide lanes and opportunities for Barnes and Iguodala.

Barnes’ offensive game is what every Warriors fan complains about but his biggest value to this team is on the defensive end. Barnes uses his versatility to guard all front court positions and has the ability to switch onto the Cavaliers’ backcourt as well.

He has done a great job on James by forcing him towards help defense or backing off and forcing him to take an outside jumper where he is least effective. While Iguodala has had the brunt of the work defending James, it has been a team effort. The Warriors have forced James to turn the ball over almost six times per game with Barnes definitely doing his part, but, on Monday, his main responsibility will be Love.

Barnes should be able to use his quickness to slow Love down in the post and from beyond the arc. Love is not a mobile player so it should be easy for Barnes to stay in front of him. He is stronger than Barnes in the post, which was one of Green’s strengths against him, but if Love has the ball in the post, the Cavaliers offense becomes stagnant. So it is unlikely you will see Love in the post on Monday night if the Cavaliers want to continue to play fast.

In the Warriors free-flowing offense, Barnes often gets lost with the incredible shooting of Curry and Thompson. But in Game 4, he took full advantage of his opportunities hitting 4 of 5 from three-point range including two huge ones in the fourth quarter, showing everyone he is not afraid of the moment and that he might be worthy of a new contract.

From the start of the season, Warriors fans have wondered if Barnes will be a part of this team in the future. There was a report last offseason that Barnes turned down a 4 year, $64 million deal, which many fans thought Barnes should have signed. In prior years, Thompson and Green both agreed to deals before their impending free agency and many thought Barnes would follow suit.

But Barnes had different ideas, vowing to wait for free agency, and obtaining a deal worth more than $20 million per year, which would make him the highest paid player on the team. It seems crazy that Barnes would be worth that amount of money but with the new television deals and increases in NBA salary caps, that is what he is worth according to the market.

Before these last two games, it was probable that the Warriors would let Barnes walk because of his unimpressive postseason. Barnes’ last two games may have been his best of the season, showing the organization that he is valuable piece on both ends on the floor and possibly changing the Warriors front office opinion on him.

Throughout the postseason, all we heard was that Kevin Durant was going to replace Barnes next season but would this be the best fit for this team? Durant is an incredible scorer but so are Curry and Thompson and up until Western Conference Finals, we would have said Barnes is a far more superior defender than Durant. Durant played excellent defense against the Warriors but could we expect this on a consistent basis or would he pick and choose his spots?

It is safe to say that Barnes’ versatility wins out in the end and the Warriors will need that versatility more than ever if they expect to repeat as champions on Monday night in Green’s absence. Warriors fans expect this to happen and it will be no surprise if Barnes steps up again.