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Golden State Warriors: 5 Takeaways From Game 1 vs. Blazers

By Gerald Bourguet

May 1, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) celebrates with guard Klay Thompson (11) during the third quarter in game one of the second round of the NBA Playoffs against the Portland Trail Blazers at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Trail Blazers 118-106. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
May 1, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green (23) celebrates with guard Klay Thompson (11) during the third quarter in game one of the second round of the NBA Playoffs against the Portland Trail Blazers at Oracle Arena. The Warriors defeated the Trail Blazers 118-106. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports /
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Apr 27, 2016; Oakland, CA, USA; Golden State Warriors center Festus Ezeli (31) battles against Houston Rockets forward Clint Capela (15) and center Dwight Howard (12) during the fourth quarter in game five of the first round of the NBA Playoffs at Oracle Arena. The Golden State Warriors defeated the Houston Rockets 114-81. Mandatory Credit: Kelley L Cox-USA TODAY Sports /

5. Playing Time Not Coming Easily For Ezeli

In Game 1, Festus Ezeli was a DNP-CD. In five games against the Houston Rockets in the first round, he played a grand total of 40 minutes. It’s safe to say that since coming back from injury, minutes haven’t come easily for Ezeli.

According to head coach Steve Kerr, Ezeli didn’t play in Game 1 against Portland because of matchups. That’s fair, but when fully healthy and in rhythm, Ezeli is a mobile big man who cleans up a lot of offensive misses for put-backs and makes himself available fairly well for alley-oop finishes.

In Game 1, the Warriors didn’t really need him. Andrew Bogut was phenomenal (more on this in a second), the Dubs outworked the Blazers on the boards and the victory was never really in doubt.

But if Golden State is able to breeze through Rip City as easily as they did in Game 1, Kerr would do well to give Ezeli some spot minutes, especially since he was so effective in their championship run last season. Having a player like that feeling confident as the opponents get tougher will only help in the long run.

At the very least, he’d still be better than Anderson Varejao.

Next: No. 4

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