DeMarcus Cousins injury is worse for Rockets than Golden State Warriors

In shocking fashion, the injury to DeMarcus Cousins may have actually been worse for the Houston Rockets than the Golden State Warriors.

This is going to take some explaining to do. However, there is a valid reason to believe that the injury to DeMarcus Cousins is legitimately hurting the Houston Rockets more than it is impacting the Golden State Warriors.

I know, on paper it is ludicrous to say that losing an All-Star caliber center is actually benefiting the Warriors in the NBA Playoffs. It’s even harder to make this claim when Cousins put up 27 points, 8 rebounds and 7 assists in his most recent game against the Houston Rockets.

There are two reasons backing up this claim. First, is the simple fact that Cousins has taken a noticeable decline in his game ever since suffering his Achilles injury. With his decreased lateral quickness and foot speed, he often found himself in foul trouble. Combine this with the constant pick-and-roll action he would have to defend against James Harden and this would have had catastrophic effects to the Warriors.

Secondly, and most importantly, not having Cousins available to play has encouraged the Warriors to play much more small ball. This has led to the triumphant return of the Warriors “Hampton Five” lineup, otherwise known as the “Death Lineup”.

This group of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green, Kevin Durant and Andre Iguodala has proven to have deadly consequences for their opponents. The only problem was, this lineup happened much less frequently with Cousins on the roster.

As a result of this small-ball lineup, Houston’s center, Clint Capela, has been virtually taken out of the game. He is struggling to remain on the court defensively and his measly 8.0 rebounds a game hasn’t been enough to justify him staying on the floor.

At the end of the day, the Warriors have plenty of options without Cousins and they have even seen big production from Iguodala. In contrast, this change of personnel has forced the Rockets to make tough decisions and suffer from Capela’s lack of talent.