Golden State Warriors: 5 Keys To Winning Without Draymond Green

4. Centers Being Playable

Through the first two games of the series, it seemed as though Andrew Bogut would actually be playable in this year’s Finals. In 2015’s Finals, he played a grand total of three minutes over the last three games, with the Warriors successfully switching to small-ball to soundly beat the Cavs three straight times.

Bogut had 10 points on 5-of-7 shooting in Game 1, and though he didn’t contribute much on the glass or in the scoring column in Game 2, his four blocks in the first 7:30 of play set the tone for the Warriors’ 33-point rout.

Even Festus Ezeli and Anderson Varejao were useful in spots, with Ezeli serving as an alley-oop threat at the basket out of the pick and roll and Andy contributing his patented one or two flops to get the Warriors a favorable call.

Without their leading rebounder (regular season, playoffs AND in this series), the Warriors will need their big men to be able to stay on the floor — especially the more mobile Ezeli, who NEEDS to see more minutes off the bench and play his way into a groove if the Dubs are getting beat on the glass.

If the Cleveland Cavaliers try to go big by moving Kevin Love into the starting rotation alongside Tristan Thompson, or if they bring Timofey Mozgov into the game alongside TT, the Warriors have to be able to hold their own on the boards.

Remember, the Warriors are 60-4 (.938) when they win or tie the rebounding battle, as opposed to 28-11 (.718) when they lose it.

Rebounding is the closest thing to an Achilles heel this team has, and without Green to anchor small-ball units and take care of the glass, it’s going to take one hell of a collective team effort to keep Thompson and the rest of the Cavs off the offensive glass.

That effort starts with Bogut, Ezeli, Varejao and even Marreese Speights, who have to play good minutes to prevent Kerr from having to ride his alternative Death Lineups too hard in a high usage small-ball battle.

Next: No. 3