The Warriors made believers out of skeptics when they switched to a small-ball lineup with Draymond Green at center to take control of the NBA Finals against the Cavaliers last season. The ability to adjust by taking starting center Andrew Bogut off the floor while remaining solid on both ends was supposed to be their trump card against a Thunder team that had punished the Spurs with size in the conference semifinals.
The Warriors had to ditch their small-ball identity to save their season
Golden State understood that the way to beat the Thunder was to go big. The Warriors had no problem shedding their modern approach to the game to go with more traditional units.
Obviously, that didn’t work as planned in the first four games. The Thunder simply had more length and athleticism when both squads decide to go small. Still, facing elimination, it would have been understandable to double down on the identity that led the Warriors to their highest level of success in the past.
Instead, Golden State decided to play the majority of Game 5 with traditional units featuring two big men, even when the Thunder went small with Serge Ibaka at center. It paid off, as centers Andrew Bogut and Marreese Speights had standout performances in the game that saved the Warriors' season, at least for now.
Bogut allowed the Warriors to control the paint
The numbers suggested that the Warriors had big trouble inside. The Thunder had the edge in second-chance points and points in the paint, and were shooting a scorching hot 63 percent within five feet of the basket to Golden State’s 54 percent. Going small simply wasn’t working.
But unfortunately for Steve Kerr, Bogut had been completely ineffective on offense the first four games, scoring a combined 12 points. Even worse, his defense wasn’t good enough to make up for it.
But in the biggest game of the year, Bogut stepped up and had his best performance of the postseason. He scored 15 points and made his presence felt on the offensive glass, keeping four possessions alive and creating six second-chance points.
Yet his biggest contributions came on the defensive end. In the 30 minutes Bogut was on the court, the Thunder had just 12 points in the paint on 21 attempts. For the game, they only had 30, 18 fewer than their average for the series coming into Thursday. Their shot chart reveals just how big of an impact Bogut had.
He also controlled the defensive glass, as the Thunder only had eight offensive rebounds that resulted in eight second-chance points when he was on the court, despite having plenty of opportunities thanks to their many misses.
Bogut’s stat line of 15 points, 14 rebounds, two assists, two steals and two blocks is impressive, but even those gaudy numbers fail to accurately represent his immense impact in Game 5. Without him owning the paint, the Warriors wouldn’t have won.
Marreese Speights kept the team afloat when Bogut rested
Bogut only played 30 minutes and Draymond Green played center for just two minutes, so someone had to keep things afloat in the remaining 16 minutes. Festus Ezeli and Anderson Varejao were largely ineffective in short stints, so the Warriors needed one more big man to step up.
Speights answered the call.
The Thunder had dominated second quarters in the series, outscoring the Warriors by a whopping 23 points per 100 possessions. After trailing by four in the first period, they looked on their way to taking control of the game in the second. The biggest reason why it didn’t happen was because Speights carried the offense for over four minutes, scoring nine points in that stretch and buying the starters enough time to rest.
His second stint came in the fourth quarter, just as an all-bench Warriors unit made the run that would secure the victory. He wasn't directly responsible for the great stretch on offense, as his teammates made tough shots, but he made defensive plays on the Thunder's stars that kept Oklahoma City from building momentum. First, he prevented Kevin Durant from recovering the ball after a block. Then, he drew a charge on Russell Westbrook.
The margin of error for the Warriors in this series has been very small. The Thunder have pounced every time a weak unit took the floor and they were ready to do the same on Thursday. But they didn’t, in large part because of Speights. He may have played just under nine minutes but in his time on the court he prevented a run from happening and helped spark one for his team.
Draymond Green seemed more comfortable at the power forward spot
While the centers made a huge impact with their play, it was equally important that Draymond Green felt more comfortable playing power forward. Without the responsibility to guard bigger players, be the last line of defense and score inside, Green had a better performance after a couple of awful ones in Oklahoma City. His shot was off, but he made his mark on the glass and through his passing on offense. Game 5 was also his best defensive performance in the series by a long shot.
It wasn’t the type of performance that gets much attention, but the role-player version of Green is what the Warriors need right now, not the one that wants to do too much. By having a center next to him, Golden State gave Green the support he needed while freeing him to do the little things that made him a key player in their system before he broke out as a legitimate star this season.
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The Warriors were lauded for adapting on the fly when things were looking dire in their championship run last year. That time, the adjustment involved going small and it worked so well that they were expected to embrace that identity for good. In Game 5, they showed that while they will always be a perimeter-oriented team, they are not afraid to go the traditional route when necessary, even if it means abandoning some of the concepts that made them special.
That sacrifice was enough to extend their season, at least by one more game.
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