One unlikely Warriors unit is destroying opponents through two games
Depth has powered the Golden State Warriors to the biggest combined winning margin in NBA history through the first two games of a season, having taken care of the Portland Trail Blazers and Utah Jazz in a way few could have expected.
Steve Kerr's 12-man rotation has been a major talking point across the league, but so far so good as the head coach continues to try and tinker to find the best possible lineups and combinations.
One Warriors five-man lineup is tearing the opposing team to shreds
Only one Warrior unit has played more than eight minutes together -- the somewhat controversial starting lineup that's delivered some ongoing concerns despite the team's dominant start to the season.
The group of Stephen Curry, Andrew Wiggins, Jonathan Kuminga, Draymond Green and Trayce Jackson-Davis has an 8.5 net rating in 22 minutes, with the jury still out on whether it will be an effective and viable combination moving forward.
But it's actually Kerr's third-most used lineup that's proving the most devastating to opposing teams. It's quite an unlikely one too, with the group of Stephen Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Buddy Hield, Gary Payton II and Kevon Looney having seen eight minutes together over the first two games.
If you'd floated the idea of that unit playing together to fans prior to the season, most would have condemned the fact Kerr was going to a four-guard lineup alongside arguably the team's third choice big man (behind Jackson-Davis and Green).
Yet after playing five minutes against the Jazz and three against the Trail Blazers, that five-man combination is an absurd 170 in offensive rating and 57.1 in defensive rating, leaving a 112.9 overall net rating.
Not only does the quartet of guards make it an unlikely winner for Golden State through two games, but many believed (including this writer) that the veteran duo of Looney and Payton would be out of the rotation altogether.
Needless to say it's the best lineup across the league so far that's seen more than four minutes of playing time. Also needless to say that those numbers won't remain, and it particularly helps when Hield is shooting a casual 75% on his 16 three-point attempts so far.
Looking at numbers for specific lineups isn't overly beneficial so early given the limited sample size, but best believe Kerr would be analyzing the data to get a gauge of what's really working for him across the first two games.