Golden State Warriors: How They’ve Won Without David Lee

If you’re looking at how the Warriors have won three straight, you have to start with the baby-faced assassin:

. (Photo Credit: Keith Allison, Flickr.com)

Entering the playoffs, I thought the Denver Nuggets had a fair shot of reaching the NBA Finals. Even without Danilo Gallinari, George Karl‘s team seemed like the kind of machine that would just replace the missing cog with guys like Wilson Chandler, Evan Fournier and Corey Brewer. I didn’t give the Golden State Warriors much thought and once David Lee went down, I thought the series would last four, maybe five games. About a week later, Nuggets fans and I are sitting here scratching our heads and wondering how a Warriors team without its All-Star power forward has pushed Denver to the brink of elimination.

The most obvious component of the Warriors’ success is Stephen Curry and his magnificent play. In his last three games, Curry is averaging 30 points, 10.3 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and three steals while shooting 55 percent from the floor and 50 percent from 3-point range. People, those numbers are just stupid. Especially when you consider all the efforts Denver has made defensively to prevent Curry from taking over the way he has.

This series has easily become the most entertaining first-round matchup to watch, even when the Nuggets got blown out in Game 4. Why? Because Curry has put on an absolute clinic, breaking down double teams, weaving through defenders incapable of stopping him, finding open threes by running all over the court through screens off the ball and finishing with finesse over Denver’s trees in the paint (shown at the 2:20 mark of this highlight reel from Game 3). He single-handedly kept Denver at bay with 22 points in the third quarter of Game 4 for crying out loud! Simply put, Steph Curry is emerging as a superstar in front of our eyes, and there’s really not much Denver’s been able to do about it.

That being said, George Karl has really bungled this series up with his stubborn reliance on double teams. As many a Denver Nuggets fan on Twitter has pointed out to me, Karl isn’t much of a playoff coach. The Nuggets have looked like a dark horse in the West for years, but Karl has really never been able to lead them out of the first round. Curry’s crowd-pleasing performances have been fun to watch, but the Nuggets should not be in this position.

Denver held the Warriors to 95 points in Game 1, but after that they’ve given up 131, 110 and 115 as Golden State has shot an absurd 65 percent, 53 percent and 56 percent from the floor, respectively. Any time your defense is giving up those kind of numbers, you’re doing something wrong. Some of the credit goes to Curry and the Warriors’ blistering 3-point assault on Denver’s basket, but I thought that Game 2 hot shooting performance was just a fluke. Instead, the Warriors have sustained it with terrific ball movement to find open shooters inside and out.

Karl has botched Denver’s lineups and has failed to find one that can play an ounce of defense. The Nuggets are still scoring, but Kosta Koufos and JaVale McGee have been all but irrelevant in the series. But the most frustrating thing of it all is how Karl has refused to give up on his double team scheme that gives the Warriors’ guards all too many options to slice and dice a rotating defense.

Curry, Jarrett Jack and Klay Thompson have all done a tremendous job in the past few games of getting the ball to the open guy once the double team comes. Yes, Denver has gotten a few steals and dunks out of it but for the most part, that double team has lead to nothing but open threes or good looks in the paint for a Golden State frontcourt that has absolutely exceeded expectations.

I really believe the only way Denver can win Game 5 is to stick Andre Iguodala on him in an old-school, straight up faceguard situation. Denver has to make Golden State’s other four players beat them, because Curry has absolutely destroyed the Nuggets with open looks, great passing and breaking down the defense. You can see the superb ball movement and how the Warriors guards are weaving through the defense in the Steph Curry highlight videos, or really any of the many videos showing Golden State knocking down an open three. To sum things up, Denver’s double team defense is playing right into Mark Jackson‘s hands.

Which brings us to the next point: Jackson has done an incredible job coaching this young team. Don’t forget that this is the first playoff series for Curry, Thompson, Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green. Jackson is a player’s coach, which is perfect for such a young and inexperienced squad. He can relate to his guys and you can see it in their effort. Jackson has absolutely out-coached Karl in this series, burying Denver with a barrage of screens that lead to open looks on the perimeter and wide open baskets at the rim for a resurgently impressive Andrew Bogut. I mean, come on, when was the last time you remember Bogut doing anything close to this?

Bogut and Jarrett Jack lead the list of Golden State role players who have surprisingly stepped up to drop Denver into this 3-1 hole. Bogut’s numbers aren’t anything special, but the average contributions he’s given by scoring, rebounding and protecting the paint with a block here and there have been tremendous for a Warriors team without their star big man.

Bogut set the tone for the Warriors in Game 4 with a few wicked slams and has been a major advantage against Denver’s all-but-irrelevant frontcourt. Meanwhile, Jarrett Jack has also been tremendous, averaging 23.3 points and 7.7 assists in his last three games while shooting a hyper-efficient 74 percent from the floor. Curry’s game is flashier and is getting more recognition, but Jack has been LeBron James-in-January-and-February-efficient.

Curry, Bogut and Jack deserve the most credit for these wins because they’ve had the biggest moments and immediate impact so far. But leaving out Klay Thompson, Carl Landry, Harrison Barnes and Draymond Green would be a major mistake. Thompson’s timely shooting in Game 2 (5-for-6 from 3-point land) is what sunk the Nuggets: every time Denver would make a run, a backbreaking 3-pointer from Thompson would keep them out of swinging reach.

Landry has been an unstoppable force for Golden State’s second unit, as he’s averaging 18 points per game in his last two. No one in a Denver uniform for that second unit has been able to stop him in the post and Landry’s effective post game has sustained many a lead when the Warriors have rested their stars.

Barnes’ production took a hit in Game 4, but don’t forget that he posted 21.5 points in the two games prior. This is a rookie who was more known for his posterization of Nikola Pekovic than his mediocre 9.5 points per game during the regular season. Barnes has dramatically stepped up his offensive game in this series and contributed many a timely jumper a-la-Thompson that most likely make smart Nuggets fans shake their heads and say, “If he’s going to make that shot on a consistent basis, they’re going to beat us.”

Finally, we get to Draymond Green, who hasn’t done much on paper. But he’s knocked down a few key 3-pointers and taken a charge or two that have kept momentum with the Warriors, and that’s really all you can ask of a rookie role player coming off the bench.

Make no mistake, the Nuggets are by no means finished right now. If they win at home tonight, they can send it back to Golden State and attempt the improbable by picking up a road win in what is sure to be an absolutely bonkers Oracle Arena crowd. But as long as Karl continues to send these stubborn double-teams at the Warriors’ talented guards, Golden State will continue to light them up from all over the floor.

The way each and every player in Jackson’s rotation has stepped up is astounding, and although Nuggets fans are sure to be disappointed with the defensive effort their team gave should they lose this series, sometimes you just have to admit when another team is better. And despite all odds, without David Lee on the court, Stephen Curry has made the Golden State Warriors the better team.

Just for reference, here is Stephen Curry’s shot chart for the third quarter of Game 4 (Photo Credit: NBA.com/stats)