How the Warriors Can Rest Up for the NBA Playoffs Without Losing Momentum
The motivations carried by the Golden State Warriors into this season's stretch run seem to contradict one another.
On the one hand, they'd like to rest their regulars as much as possible before the playoffs start. But they don't want to disrupt their chemistry or sacrifice the league-best record they've spent all season building.
In other words, they want to ease off the gas pedal without losing any speed.
It sounds impossible, but the pieces might be in place to pull this miracle off. Their embarrassment-of-riches roster affords them a luxury seldom available to NBA teams.
It's risk-free resting, using the depth created by this front office to lighten the load shouldered by the team's top talent. The responsibility of figuring out whom to sit and when to sit them over the coming weeks belongs to head coach Steve Kerr.
But with the roster he has at his disposal, there are several ways to maximize the effectiveness of the remaining schedule.
Giving the Backcourt a Break
On paper, the Warriors have little reason to worry about the 65.5 combined minutes logged by Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson per game. That number marks a dramatic decrease from last season's 71.9 mark.
But the Dubs are a different team than they were last season.
They jumped from third to first in defensive efficiency and from 12th to second at the opposite end. More importantly, they are averaging more than two additional possessions per 48 minutes (100.9, up from 98.5) and doing more when they have the ball.
The plodding isolation style preferred by former coach Mark Jackson has been ditched in favor of a motion system that emphasizes movement of player and ball.
"It obviously requires a lot of energy to do what we do on both ends of the floor," Curry told USA Today's Sam Amick. "Thirty-two minutes a game still feels like 40."
That's why Kerr has taken a page out of his former coach Gregg Popovich's book. When the Warriors rolled into the Rockies for their March 13 clash with the Denver Nuggets, Kerr opted to sit Curry, Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Andrew Bogut.
"They need a rest," Kerr said of his unpopular-but-reasoned decision, per Pat Graham of The Associated Press.
With a 6.5-game lead on the second-seeded Memphis Grizzlies, the Warriors will have even more opportunities ahead to rest their top guns. Having Shaun Livingston, Leandro Barbosa and Justin Holiday around makes that card even easier to play.
Livingston can fill in at either backcourt spot.
The former lottery pick is a point guard by trade. His selflessness and court vision have netted him 6.3 assists per 36 minutes, the team's second-highest average. That number slots Livingston ahead of high-level starting point guards Damian Lillard (6.2) and Tony Parker (6.1).
If Curry needs a breather—whether that's taking a night off or simply sitting longer during games—Livingston can keep the offense moving without him. And Livingston is equally capable of buying Thompson extra time on the sideline.
Livingston can't shoot the long ball (he's attempted only two triples this season and misfired on both), but he can help in other ways on the wing. Like Thompson, he's a lanky, versatile defender. Livingston can also give this offense a jolt by moving Curry off the ball or generating his own scoring chances through post-up plays and timely off-ball cuts.
"Shaun's an excellent passer and cutter," Kerr said, per Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News. "When the game goes small...Shaun is perfect, because it's a passing and cutting game. There's no rim-protection. He's one of the best cutters in the league."
Livingston is the key to easing the burden on Curry and Thompson. But if the Warriors want to sit one (or both) for an entire game, they'll need to go deeper into their rotation.
That's where Barbosa and Holiday enter the equation.
Barbosa is lightning-quick off the dribble and fearless going at the rim. He takes a higher percentage of his shots within three feet of the rim than any of his backcourt mates (37.1). Playing him for prolonged stretches can be a challenge defensively, but those concerns can be mitigated with Bogut, Draymond Green or Festus Ezeli patrolling the paint.
The issues are reversed with Holiday. He's not the most efficient shooter (39.4 percent from the field, 34.1 percent from deep), but he has the size (6'6") and athleticism to handle multiple defensive assignments.
There's a reason Barbosa and Holiday are buried on the depth chart, but both have something to offer when needed. Add Livingston to the mix, and the Warriors have enough to get by in the backcourt against lesser competition without Curry and Thompson.
Golden State has even more flexibility at forward and center.
Filling the Frontcourt Posts
Roles and responsibilities are easier to allocate on Golden State's second-team front line. With 31-year-old sixth man Andre Iguodala requiring his own maintenance, the Warriors can't replicate the do-it-all skill sets provided by Green and Harrison Barnes.
But if Kerr has an idea of what he wants, he shouldn't have a hard time finding it on his bench. For interior offense, Kerr can call upon either David Lee or Marreese Speights.
Lee's defensive shortcomings and inability to spread the floor cost him his permanent rotation spot, but he's skilled at what he does. His per-36-minute marks of 15.8 points and 10.5 rebounds aren't that far removed from the ones he posted as a starter last season (19.8 and 10.1, respectively).
He's an awkward fit for the team's current puzzle, but he could provide a major lift when the team is playing without Green, Bogut or both.
"If I put him out there for 30 minutes a night, I have no doubt he'd average 18 points and 10 boards," Kerr said of Lee, per CSN's Monte Poole. "He'd do his thing because he's talented and skilled. ... Right now, he's just been the odd man out."
Minutes haven't been that much easier to come by for Speights, particularly of late. But, like Lee, Speights has produced when his number has been called.
It's hard playing the pair in tandem because both have defensive limitations. But if offense is all that's needed, either one can meet the call. Speights has shown better range on his jumper, and Lee has been the more effective passer, but the stat sheet doesn't show a ton of separation between the two.
By keeping one on the floor when the frontcourt regulars are sitting, the Warriors can give themselves a scoring and rebounding presence without overexposing themselves on the defensive side.
Against long, high-scoring bigs, the Dubs will need Ezeli to anchor any Bogut-less lineups.
As good as the latter is defensively, the former is nearly on the same level. Ezeli actually averages more blocks per 36 minutes than Bogut (three to 2.5), and the margin between them in opponents' field-goal percentage is wafer-thin (42.5 percent for Ezeli, 40.8 percent for Bogut).
Ezeli doesn't have Bogut's soft hands, and the reserve is several classes behind the starter as a passer. But if the Dubs are getting their offense elsewhere, they can survive without a scoring threat in the middle.
For quick bursts of energy on the interior, Golden State can keep experimenting with 6'9" rookie forward James Michael McAdoo. The former North Carolina Tar Heel has been electric in limited doses (20.4 points and 8.2 boards per 36 minutes), but his six-game sample size is too small to yield any legitimate conclusions.
He should play a prominent role on short-handed nights, both to supply fresh legs and help the team discover if he might be able to assist it once the second season starts.
The wing is a little harder to fill behind Barnes, Green and Iguodala, so no more than one of the three should sit out any given night. But splitting up the rest between them would allow all three to keep contributing now and preparing for later.
With staggered sideline stints, the Warriors could lean on their remaining starters and get enough production out of whichever reserves take on an expanded role. Considering the potential confidence boosts the bench mob might reserve, the league's deepest team could conceivably get deeper.
Cruising Toward Title Contention
Credit the last four-plus months for making the next one an easier journey. The heavy lifting is finished, and the Warriors should have their full attention transfixed on the postseason.
"Steve Kerr is going to get Festus Ezeli, Justin Holiday and David Lee some minutes and rest his top guys, which is the Warriors’ way of nailing down the No. 1 seed in a smooth backpedal," wrote Kawakami. "Wake them up when that first playoff game at Oracle tips off."
The Dubs might not be snoozing down the stretch, but they certainly won't be sprinting through the final leg of this marathon. Outside of securing the No. 1 overall seed—which would only hold importance if both they and the Atlanta Hawks advanced to the championship round—there are no more external goals to chase.
Still, Golden State won't want to enter the playoffs on a downswing. With the depth of this roster, it shouldn't have to.
Once rotations tighten for the playoffs, the Warriors will lose some of their built-in advantages on the bench. It's imperative, then, to make the most of them now, while they still matter.
Resting players and maintaining momentum is possible. As long as Kerr leaves himself enough to compete every night, he has as many chances to keep his top players fresh as the Warriors have games left on their schedule.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
