Golden State Warriors: 5 Preparations For NBA Finals Game 5

5. No Place For Andrew Bogut

Andrew Bogut has been a valuable piece for the Warriors all season long. Draymond Green is Golden State’s best defender now, but Bogut is the rebounding, defensive anchor that has grounded the league’s stingiest defense for the last three years. It wasn’t long ago Warriors fans everywhere were still holding their breath, praying he’d be healthy for the entire postseason for once.

But in this particular matchup, there really is no place for the big Aussie.

I never thought I’d write those words, and it almost seems nonsensical since the one thing the Dubs have badly needed is someone to keep Tristan Thompson off the offensive glass. But Bogut has looked completely lost in this series, dropping easy passes at the rim and getting outmuscled and out-jumped on the other end.

Through the first three games of the series, Bogut had accumulated a grand total of 10 points (on nine shots) and 23 rebounds while posting a point differential of -19. Tristan Thompson, on the other hand, had racked up 14 points and 42 boards while Timofey Mozgov looked similarly dominant with 39 points and 23 rebounds.

Draymond Green deserves a little bit of the blame there too, but Steve Kerr made the right decision in Game 4 to move Andre Iguodala into the starting five and go with a small-ball lineup. It didn’t look promising at first, but after Cleveland’s 7-0 run to start the game, the Dubs outscored the Cavs 103-75 the rest of the way.

Bogut played a grand total of three minutes and committed three fouls and a turnover in that span.

Everyone knows how instrumental Bogut has been for this defense all season long. He’s been a foundational part of the Warriors’ success and without him, who knows if the Dubs would even be in the Finals? But now is not the time to let pride be your downfall, which is something both Kerr and Bogut willingly embraced in Game 4.

The small-ball lineups allowed the Warriors to pick up the tempo and though they struggled to close out defensive possessions at times with a rebound, they also made it a lot more difficult for Cleveland’s gritty defense to lock them down.

Kerr made the right call going to Iggy to start Game 4 and he was also right to give more minutes to David Lee, someone who can create out of the pick and roll, score at the basket and clean up rebounds in limited minutes. Kerr might not be able to rely on Lee’s defense for too long, but it’s become abundantly clear that Bogut’s role may need to be drastically reduced for the Warriors to win this series.

Next: No. 4