Golden State Warriors: Life Without Andrew Bogut
Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: IF Andrew Bogut can stay healthy, the Golden State Warriors are title contenders.
Bogut has become the biggest non-Derrick Rose injury “if” in the league, but even though it’s become a cliched definition of Steve Kerr‘s Dubs, it still holds true. If you need further proof, just take a look at Golden State’s nine games without their defensive anchor.
After starting the season 20-2, the Warriors have gone 4-3 over their last six games. Losing on the road against the Memphis Grizzlies was understandable, since that team’s specialty comes from the frontcourt, an area where Golden State really needs Bogut.
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But the Dubs then dropped two straight in Los Angeles. The first came against the lowly Lakers in a game that saw the Warriors give up 52 percent shooting — the only time an opponent has shot above 50 percent against Golden State this year — to a team playing without Kobe Bryant. The other loss came against a Clippers team that had lost three of its last four games coming into the night.
It was hard to tell which loss was more disappointing. Losing to a lottery-bound Lakers team was stunning, although Kobe’s absence may have actually helped Los Angeles since he’s shooting 37 percent on the season. But coming out flat against their rivals for a Christmas Day game was just as underwhelming, with Draymond Green going as far as saying the Dubs were “too nice.”
With Andrew Bogut patrolling the paint, nobody would have ever said something like that about the Golden State Warriors.
Since Bogut went down with that injury, the Warriors are giving up 105.2 points per game. They’re only half a game ahead of the Portland Trail Blazers for the top seed in the Western Conference, though they still have two fewer losses than anyone in the league. Luckily for the Dubs, this adjustment period couldn’t be coming at a better time.
In the month of January, the Warriors 11 of their 15 games at home. After starting the season playing 17 of 28 games on the road, it’s amazing the Dubs even have that stellar 24-5 record. In other words, the sky isn’t falling just yet.
Just look at some of the opponents Golden State has beaten with Bogut out. Impressive wins over the Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets, New Orleans Pelicans AND Oklahoma City Thunder were quickly overshadowed by back-to-back losses in L.A. But this team is still as good as anyone in the league, even sans Bogut.
It’s also worth noting that backup center Festus Ezeli has missed his last two games with an ankle injury, and he will not suit up tonight against the Philadelphia 76ers. The Dubs don’t need him to beat the lowly Sixers at home, but this whole “Golden State is in trouble without Andrew Bogut” angle has been overblown. The real truth is any team is in trouble without their starting AND backup center.
Draymond Green deserves credit for doing his best to hold down the frontcourt in Bogut’s absence. He’s averaging 11.5 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.8 blocks per game for the month of December and has done his best to lock down other team’s opposing power forwards, no matter how much bigger and stronger they may be.
Marreese Speights has also taken on an expanded role, averaging 11.4 points and 5.4 rebounds per game in December. But Steve Kerr has really been the mastermind behind Golden State’s success (surprise, surprise), utilizing small-ball lineups to create matchup problems in an attempt to distract from Bogut’s glaring absence.
Without their starting center, the Golden State Warriors cannot win a championship. There’s still no timetable for Bogut’s return, which is pretty frightening news for a guy who gets hurt every season and has already missed nine games this season.
But if Bogut can just get healthy in the next month or two, the Dubs will still likely be in position to capture the top seed in the West. Some upcoming home stands will go a long way in guaranteeing this extremely talented two-way team keeps its distance from the rest of its Western underlings.