Last season, the Warriors trotted out a deadly, little, small lineup every now and then. It featured the Splash Brothers, Andre Iguodala and Harrison Barnes at the forward spots and Draymond Green at center. It's a deadly offensive lineup that works defensively because Green is tough and flexible, and because Iguodala and Thompson are studs on that end. But mostly it works because it's a deadly offensive lineup.
The Warriors’ small lineup is the ultimate cheat code
It’s scoring almost four points per minute. This is not fair.
Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Most of the world was introduced to this lineup in the NBA Finals when Steve Kerr leveraged it against the Cavaliers to strong effect. In fact, the lineup played more minutes in the 2015 postseason than in the regular season. And it went really well: the unit was +38 (exclusively against playoff teams, mind you) in 111 minutes.
Interim coach Luke Walton is leaning even more on the cheat code lineup this season. Through 15 games the lineup has played 56 minutes total. And it's performed even better than last season, as this chart shows.
The cheat code lineup is +81 over 56 minutes. That's incredible! It's been outscored only once this season -- a one-minute stint versus Memphis in which the Grizz won 5-2 -- and has put up just incredible scoring numbers. The 14 points in two minutes against the Nuggets on Sunday is a new level of awesome. Fourteen points in two minutes. In the Warriors' previous two games, the lineup outscored the Clippers and Bulls by a combined 31 points in 12 minutes of play.
This is perhaps the most potent scoring lineup we’ve ever seen. Analysts and opponents are poring over ways to slow it down. It’d appear that the best bet is to try to outscore them, as the defensive performance of the lineup has been subpar compared to the Warriors’ typical stinginess. But I don’t know how you keep up with an offense scoring almost four points per minute. This is just not fair.
