Blue Man Hoop
Fansided

Golden State Warriors bench has been utterly outplayed

By Tony Pesta

OAKLAND, CA - APRIL 24: Montrezl Harrell #5 celebrates with Patrick Beverley #21 of the LA Clippers after the game against the Golden State Warriors during Game Five of Round One of the 2019 NBA Playoffs on April 24, 2019 at ORACLE Arena in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
OAKLAND, CA - APRIL 24: Montrezl Harrell #5 celebrates with Patrick Beverley #21 of the LA Clippers after the game against the Golden State Warriors during Game Five of Round One of the 2019 NBA Playoffs on April 24, 2019 at ORACLE Arena in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2019 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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The strength of the Los Angeles Clippers bench has taken the Golden State Warriors by surprise as they head into the sixth game of this series.

The Golden State Warriors are experiencing a bit more trouble with the 8-seeded Los Angeles Clippers than they expected. However, anyone who has been paying attention to this Clippers roster all season long knew very well what this team was capable of.

If any team was going to give the Dubs problem in the opening round of the Playoffs, it was the Clippers. While no one could have predicted this series would go to six games (at least), it was a guarantee that LA was going to grit and grind their way through each game.

As the old saying goes, hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard. This is somewhat the issue for Golden State. Except, it isn’t their starters that are getting outplayed, it’s the second unit.

The Clippers bench has scored a total of 303 points through the first five games of the series. Lou Williams has led the team in scoring in both of the Clippers wins with 36 points in Game 2 and 33 in Game 5.

Compare this to the Warriors bench, who has scored only 150 points in this series so far. The most points a Warriors bench player has scored in a single game was 19 by Kevon Looney in Game 2. In contrast, the Clippers have had a second unit player score 19+ points six different times.

This has without a doubt been the key to the series for the Clippers. The LA bench is simply destroying any chance of letting the Warriors coast to a victory. This has caused the series to go on much longer than the Warriors would have liked and has wasted some great performances by Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant.

dark. Next. Clippers are setting up the Warriors perfectly for the Second Round

Hopefully, this series will be finished in Game 6 and the Warriors will be able to put their bench issues behind them. The Clippers have the best second unit in the entire NBA, which means it can only get easier for the Dubs bench.

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