The Warriors-Cavaliers Christmas Day matchup was fun to watch, but Golden State takes on the Toronto Raptors in a Wednesday game that features some of the NBA’s best basketball — literally. As spotted by Raptors Republic’s Blake Murphy, the Raptors and Warriors employ the NBA’s top five lineups by net rating, minimum 100 minutes.
Warriors vs. Raptors will feature the NBA’s 5 most effective lineups
These two teams are really, really good.
Nick Turchiaro-USA TODAY Sports
Toronto’s four starters (Kyle Lowry, DeMar DeRozan, DeMarre Carroll, and Jonas Valanciunas) plus Patrick Patterson outscores opponents by a league-leading 32.1 points per 100 possessions. The Raptors lineup of Lowry and four bench players (Patterson, Cory Joseph, Terrence Ross, and Lucas Nogueira) ranks second with a net rating of 29.1.
Golden State’s death lineup of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Kevin Durant, and Draymond Green ranks third, having outscored opponents by 26.5 points per 100 possessions in the 137 minutes they’ve seen together this season. The Warriors wings (Durant and Thompson) with the bench (Iguodala, Shaun Livingston, and David West) outscores boasts a net rating of 17.6, and their starters (Curry, Thompson, Durant, Green, and Zaza Pachulia) outscore opponents by a cool 17.2 points per 100 possessions.
The Warriors aren’t a surprise, but how are two Raptors lineups up there?
Last year, Golden State dominated the NBA, boasting the top three five-man lineups in the NBA. It made sense: Their record was 73-9. But Toronto (22-8) is still one of five remaining teams with a single-digit loss column so far.
That’s in part because Lowry is playing the best basketball of his life with career-high averages in points (21.9), field goal percentage (.472), three-point percentage (.450), and the second-best assist clip (7.2) of his career. He’s playing at a level slated to land him his third NBA All-Star appearance in as many years, and it was just last season where Lowry and four bench players (Cory Joseph, Terrence Ross, Patrick Patterson, and Bismack Biyombo) was a top-15 lineup and the Raptors’ second-best rotation.
Golden State beat Toronto, 127-121, when the two teams first played in mid-November. So buckle up because Wednesday night’s gonna be a good one.
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