David Lee's Emergence Can't Replace Draymond Green's Value in 2015 NBA Finals
The Golden State Warriors couldn't scrape out a victory in Game 3 of the 2015 NBA Finals, but they didn't leave the contest empty-handed.
Former All-Star David Lee, who had basically been squeezed out of the rotation, rejoined the party and immediately provided energy, production and, most importantly, hope for better days ahead.
The Warriors, who are shouldering a 2-1 series deficit, need all of the above and then some. Their typically explosive offense has struggled to ignite against a stout Cleveland Cavaliers defense. Golden State's own point-prevention unit has been powerless against the prodigiously powerful LeBron James.
The Dubs aren't out, but they're clearly down. And no one embodies that more than Draymond Green, who just so happened to spark their earlier success by supplanting Lee in the starting lineup.
When a strained hamstring sidelined Lee during the preseason, Golden State turned to Green and never looked back. It wasn't an indictment on Lee, who averaged 18.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game just last season and played really well this preseason, but rather a recognition that Green's dogged defense, valuable versatility and emotional leadership satisfied more needs for this group.
Golden State got by just fine with Lee filling a minimal role (49 appearances, 18.4 minutes per game). The team reeled off a franchise-record 67 wins during the regular season, then sprinted through a crowded Western Conference playoff bracket with a 12-3 record.
Green's fingerprints were littered across those triumphs. He finished second in both the Defensive Player of the Year and Most Improved Player award voting. He rarely left any category of the stat sheet untouched and quickly became, as head coach Steve Kerr put it, the team's "heart and soul," according to Antonio Gonzalez of The Associated Press.
But Green, like a lot of his teammates, has yet to find his rhythm in this series. He's shooting just 26.7 percent from the field (only 1-of-8 from three) and having trouble positively impacting any area of the game. Even clean looks have been problematic, as he's hit only three of the 11 shots he's attempted with a defender at least four feet away from him.
| Regular Season | 11.7 | 54.0 | 8.2 | 3.7 | 110 | 97 |
| First Three Rounds | 14.0 | 52.4 | 10.8 | 5.3 | 106 | 98 |
| NBA Finals | 9.7 | 40.6 | 7.7 | 2.7 | 92 | 96 |
With Green's fellow frontcourt members struggling—Harrison Barnes was scoreless in Game 3, Andrew Bogut has 10 total points in the series—the Warriors turned to their forgotten $15 million man in Game 3. And Lee delivered in a way that almost made you forget he hadn't played in nearly two weeks nor logged double-digit minutes since May 15.
"My job as a pro is to be ready," Lee said, via Sporting News' Sean Deveney. "I have confidence in myself. My teammates have confidence in me, and my job is to be ready when my number is called."
Consider it a job well done. Lee logged 13 minutes in Golden State's 96-91 loss Tuesday. During that time, the dusty-but-not-rusty Lee tallied 11 points, four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
There was an unmistakable pep in Lee's step, and it almost pulled the Warriors out of a rare pit of quicksand in Northeast Ohio.
When he took the floor to start the fourth quarter, Golden State faced a 17-point deficit. Lee helped trim that lead to as few as one point, and the Warriors outscored the Cavs by 17 points on the night when he was in the game.
But seven of the 10 Warriors who saw action finished with a plus-minus in the red, including all five starters. Green and Barnes tied with team-worst minus-14 marks. Bogut and backup big man Festus Ezeli weren't far behind at minus-9 each.
There isn't nearly enough frontcourt production to keep Lee tethered to the bench. Not that Kerr is planning on doing that anymore.
"You'll see more of David Lee," Kerr said, via Yahoo Sports' Dan Devine. "He played really well."
Lee's skill set fits this series. The Cavs are hounding Curry every time he races around a screen. When he hits the corner, these are the roadblocks he's facing:
The Cavs are leaving Green alone, so it's obvious where Curry needs to go with the basketball.
The problem is that Green isn't doing anything good with it. He can fire one up from distance, but he's just 6-of-38 from three over his last 10 games.
He seems to know those numbers, too. That's the only way to explain why he's consistently turning down wide-open shots—and disrupting the offensive flow in the process.
When Green looks to drive, the Cavs are defending him perfectly. They're covering up his passing lanes, then meeting him at the rim. Green, who's shooting just 30.0 percent on two-point field goals outside of three feet, doesn't have the touch to score from the uncovered area in Cleveland's defense.
Lee does. Last season, he made 39.3 percent of those shots.
If the Cavs leave him alone in that range, he can hurt them. And if Cleveland overcommits to stopping that shot, Lee is a savvy enough passer to spot an open shooter. Throw in the chemistry he's created as Curry's longest-tenured teammate, and Lee is Golden State's best bet to work the two-man game with the MVP.
"Only Lee among Golden State's big men can force Cleveland to respect him as both an in-between scorer and a passer, making him the best option to run pick-and-rolls with Curry," wrote ESPN Insider Kevin Pelton.
The numbers agree with that assessment. As NBA.com's John Schuhmann noted, the Warriors averaged 1.54 points per possession on the 13 pick-and-rolls they ran with Lee. They managed only 0.63 points per possession on the 40 they tried with a different screener.
But the question now becomes what impact this plot twist will have on the series overall. Has Lee actually replaced his replacement as Golden State's new energy boost?
No, but the Warriors have found another weapon they can use.
Lee should play a fairly significant role in Game 4. Kerr has to keep a short leash on Bogut and Barnes. Lee could spell either of them in undersized-but-not-super-small lineups, and he should find himself ahead of Ezeli and Marreese Speights in the rotation. Lee is an asset in the passing game and a comfortable scorer around the rim.
But there's a limit on how big of a role he can fill. He's not a rim protector in any sense. When he's playing the center spot, it's an open invitation for the Cavs to attack the basket at will. Kerr needs to strike the balance between squeezing offensive production out of Lee without exposing his team at the opposite end.
The bigger puzzle for Kerr to solve is getting Green back on track. The multifaceted forward is not only struggling to crack Cleveland's defensive puzzle, he's also dealing with a back injury he suffered in Game 2, per CSN's Rosalyn Gold-Onwude.
"He has back spasms," Kerr said, via Bay Area News Group's Jeff Faraudo. "Should be able to play. He'll get treated today. We'll evaluate him."
The Warriors need the Swiss army knife Green who helped carry them all season.
His defense is critical, his leadership is invaluable and his offense could be exactly what Golden State is missing. His screens and passes could help fuel better shooting efforts from Curry and Klay Thompson. Green's one-man fast breaks could kick-start a transition attack that has gone stagnant in this series.
Lee can give the Warriors extra energy and depth, two helpful tools to deplete the shorthanded Cavaliers' energy supply. But Golden State discovered long ago that its success is tied to other players.
For all of the oddities in this series, that part of the equation hasn't changed.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
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