LaMarcus Aldridge was outplayed by JaVale McGee in Game 1. That won’t work.

LaMarcus Aldridge should be an All-NBA player this season, either at forward or center. All year, the San Antonio Spurs star led the team’s offense with his dangerous mid-range game and a system designed around him more than years past, something that helped soothe complaints stemming from a disgruntled summer.

That Aldridge was nowhere to be found in Game 1 on Saturday. Not in his 24 minutes, 14 points, and 5-of-12 shooting. Not how he was outscored by his starting center counterpart, JaVale McGee, despite McGee playing eight minutes fewer.

Aldridge, unfortunately, has been known to wilt in the playoffs in certain moments through his career. As noted by Nylon Calculus’ Krishna Narsu, only one player has seen their box plus-minus — a box score-based overall analysis metric — decline as dramatically from the regular season to the postseason in their career. And that stat wasn’t even counting today’s lowlights.

That’s only one metric, but it backs up a general understanding that Aldridge has failed to find his footing in crucial postseason moments. It’s not all his fault — low post players require more work from their teammates to involve them properly in games, and it can be easier for defenses to silence them. But the Warriors weren’t constantly double-teaming, not initially. Aldridge was just overwhelmed by McGee, who has never been known as a premiere defender.

It wasn’t just that McGee was blocking him, though. Here’s a shot that looks like a relatively normal jumper out of the post for Aldridge, and he airballs it against McGee’s length.

Aldridge led the NBA with 9.3 points per game out of post-ups, but there just wasn’t much of that happening on Saturday. Not only did most of his five buckets come on catch-and-shoot jumpers, but Aldridge didn’t even score a point in the paint. That won’t work.

“He’s incredibly tall and quick off his feet,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said about McGee afterwards. “Go play a pickup game. It’s harder to play against guys who are tall. They challenge the shots better, and LaMarcus, I think, the best low post scorer that we have in the game. He’s a tremendous shooter, and we just want to challenge those shots.”

Golden State did double Aldridge at times, and that’s another difficult thing to overcome against a defense that — when locked in — is as disciplined and swarming as San Antonio. The Spurs often play non-shooters like DeJounte Murray and Kyle Anderson, players who the Warriors will encourage to hoist up jumpers all day. If you double off them, and make sure they don’t burn you with quick cuts, then Aldridge’s impact out of the post can be mitigated.

Still, look at this play, one where Aldridge should have immediately rotated this ball to Green. Durant was lurking, but a quick pass should have made it through. Instead, he gets an awful shot out of the possession.

Clearly, Aldridge had plenty of success this season on a 47-win team that made the playoffs despite Kawhi Leonard missing basically the whole year. He and San Antonio can only lean on those excuses mentioned above so much. Aldridge can’t get flustered by McGee, who is athletic but also uncontrolled. McGee sprinting the floor does provide a tough matchup, since Aldridge tends to default to a slower pace.

If Aldridge averaged 14 points on 42 percent shooting this series, then San Antonio might as well forfeit. They have no chance at winning. That was probably the case before the series even started, even in Golden State’s weakened state missing Stephen Curry. The Spurs, as smart as they are coached and play, suffer from a talent deficient compared to nearly every other Western Conference playoff roster.

But it seemed possible that the Spurs would make the Warriors sweat, at least, even if the series itself ended in a shorter number of games. If Aldridge can’t play better, and if San Antonio can’t set him up more frequently for success, then that certainly won’t happen.