Golden State Warriors: Are They Better Without David Lee?

Before the 2012-13 NBA playoffs began, nobody would have imagined the Golden State Warriors could have survived losing David Lee to an injury. Certainly they couldn’t lose Lee and become a more dangerous team that could actually upset the Denver Nuggets, could they?

Well, if Tuesday, April 23, is any indication, the Warriors are the best shooting team in the history of the world and will sweep the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals en route to five consecutive titles.

All exaggeration aside, the Warriors went very small, starting three guards in Jarrett Jack, Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. With them, they put Harrison Barnes at the 4 and Andrew Bogut at center.

Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors are doing it again. Photo Credit: Keith Allison, Flickr.com

What resulted was a 131-117 thrashing of the Nuggets in which the Warriors shot 64.6 percent from the field and 56 percent from 3.

Stephen Curry had a monster game with 30 points, five rebounds, 13 assists and three steals. Only Chris Paul (twice), Dwyane Wade and Rod Strickland have done that in the playoffs since 1985-86.

His backcourt mate, Klay Thompson, also had a tremendous game, shooting 5-for-6 from the 3-point line. More importantly, he made important shot after important shot when the Nuggets were trying to make a run in the second half.

Every time the Nuggets cut the lead to single digits, Jack or Thompson hit another big shot to extend the lead back to double-digits.

That “small ball” approach is what the 2006-07 Warriors used. Have you already forgotten that team that spelled Andris Biedrins with Stephen Jackson?

MySynergySports.com (which is fabulous for you basketball nuts out there) showed that the Warriors scored a whopping 1.78 points per possession (PPP) on spot-up situations and 1.67 PPP in transition against the Nuggets on Tuesday night.

For the 2012-13 regular season, the Warriors were No. 2 in the NBA in those spot-up situation with 1.06 PPP. In transition, the were No. 6 in basketball, with 1.17 PPP.

So we’ve determined that they were pretty good on Tuesday night, but are they better without David Lee? Perhaps a better question is what do they lose by taking Lee out of the lineup?

Lee isn’t an offensive phenom. He’s serviceable and better than average, but it’s his rebounding that makes a difference for the Warriors.

In fact, the Warriors were the No. 1 team in the NBA in defensive rebound percentage (75.5 percent) during the 2012-13 season.

During the regular season, the Warriors went 1-2 without Lee. Their lone win was over the lowly New Orleans Hornets, who shot 13-for-23 from the free-throw line with the Warriors shooting 30-for-35 in a 116-112 win.

The Nuggets are the No. 27 team in the NBA in defensive rebounding percentage (71.8 percent), but are No. 1 in offensive rebounding percentage (31.4 percent). Tuesday night was somewhat of an aberration, with the Nuggets pulling in only six offensive rebounds (with three from Andre Miller).

The Warriors can beat anyone in the league if they’re going to shoot 64.6 percent again. They won’t miss Lee if they don’t … ever miss. But they will miss and they will miss Lee in the lineup to clean up the glass. George Karl is a tremendous coach and if you don’t think he’s going to make adjustments to take advantage of their size, you’re kidding yourself.

Bottom line, will they be better without Lee over the span of the playoffs? No. Were they better Tuesday night? Yes.