Golden State Warriors perceived weakness turned incredible strength

Just a couple of months ago, many lamented the Golden State Warriors’ lack of options at the center position. The trade deadline came and went with no moves, nor a free agent signing either. Then, the dwindling big man stocks were hurt further by the news James Wiseman was ruled out for the season.

Now, as the Warriors have a 2-0 lead in the Western Conference Finals, their interior presence is becoming a dominant aspect of this postseason.

Led by Kevon Looney, the Golden State Warriors have turned a perceived weakness into an unlikely strength as the NBA playoffs continue.

Such a concern were the Warriors’ big man options that they went without one in the starting unit for the first ten games of the playoffs. It wasn’t until the crucial game six against Memphis that Looney was re-inserted, paying immediate dividends as he collected 22 of the Warriors’ historic 70 rebounds.

But to be fair, the Warriors’ paint dominance had been a feature even before Looney’s return to the starting five. Throughout the Memphis series, against the best rebounding team in the league during the regular season, Golden State won the rebound battle in five of the six games, averaging 5.2 more rebounds per contest.

Just as importantly, the Warriors kept the Grizzlies out of the paint and were more efficient themselves on the other end. Golden State had an average of 25.5 field goal attempts per game from within five feet, shooting 69.9% in that area. Memphis had 21, shooting a full 10% less at 59.9%.

Those statistics are even more contrasting in this series against Dallas, ultimately leading to the difference between the two teams to this point. The Warriors are shooting the ball less from within five feet than they did against Memphis, but they’re currently making an incredible 87.5% of the 20 attempts per game.

Defensively, Golden State is holding the Mavericks to a historically woeful number of attempts close to the rim. Dallas is averaging seven attempts from within five feet, which for context, is less than half the lowest averaging team during the regular season (Denver with 15)

Thanks to their paint dominance, the Warriors are shooting 56.1% from the field compared to the Mavericks’ 41.5%. As a consequence, Golden State is averaging 14.5 more rebounds, with Dallas’ 32.5 rebounds well below the league-worst Rockets who averaged 42 during the regular season.

If this trend continues, the Warriors will be very confident they can close out the series. While the Mavericks may have some hot shooting streaks as they did in the first half of game two, Golden State will rightly believe that their easy, high percentage looks at the rim will eventually prevail.

After many viewed the Warriors’ lack of size as a worry heading into the playoffs, their paint superiority has been a surprising element of their playoff success thus far.