On March 23, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, and the Warriors lost 90-94 to the Magic, a weak team in the East, suffering 3 consecutive losses. After Curry fell injured, the Warriors seemed to have suddenly gone from a championship-fighting team to the weakest team in the NBA, and even became unable to play. So why is this happening? The answer is simple: the Warriors' starting lineup today, along with the pass-cut offensive system advocated by Kerr, would reveal fatal problems if Curry was missing.
One of the Warriors' most commonly used starting lineups this season is Curry, Thompson (poole before his comeback), Wiggins, Green and Looney. There are indeed many advantages of this lineup, such as high defensive efficiency, the basketball IQ of the players is also good, but there is also a huge hidden danger, that is, Green in the 4th position and Looney in the 5th position lack the ability to open up space. In today's NBA, neither of the two interior players can pull away from the shooting, which will have a very adverse impact on the team's offense.
But fortunately, the Warriors still have Curry before, his super projection ability and ultra-long range, resulting in opponents must focus on him, even at the expense of crazy packing. At the same time, because Curry's running ability is also very strong, very good at running without the ball, so it can also pull and disrupt the opponent's defensive formation through running, relying on the "library has gravity" to pull, the warriors' other players can get huge offensive space, passing tactics can play well. It can also be said that it is precisely because of the existence of Curry that the Warriors dare to put up an anti-trend starting configuration of the non-projection double interior line in today's era of small ball prevalence.
Of course, it must be admitted that Curry's competitive status and physical fitness have declined compared with the peak due to his personal age, so sometimes such a lineup, even he can't move. Coupled with Green's injury some time ago, Curry was frequently wrapped by opponents, so Kerr has figured out a set of starting lineups for Curry, Poole, Thompson, Wiggins, and Looney, preferring to play 3 guards to reduce defensive intensity, but also to enhance the team's sense of offensive space to solve the problem of Curry being frequently wrapped.
It is reasonable to say that Kerr is actually aware of the warriors' difficulty in opening up the offensive space, but unfortunately, after Curry's injury, he still insisted on using the double interior start of Green and Looney, which was equivalent to letting Poole replace Curry. It is true that Poole has been in hot form recently, having cut 20+ in 10 consecutive games, but he is simply unlike curry, who can attract the heavy supervision of opponents and create a comfortable offensive space for his teammates. As a result, Poole himself is in a decent state, but the Warriors' starting lineup is completely unable to open up space, resulting in often constipation in the offense.
So how can the Warriors solve this problem? The most direct way is to change the formation. In the starting lineup, Kerr could consider removing Looney from the starting lineup, putting Porter in the starting lineup, and playing a 5-small lineup instead. In the last two games, Porter has cut a large double-double with 14 points, 15 rebounds, 16 points and 16 rebounds, and has proved his rebounding ability. At the same time, Porter's three-point shooting is also very stable, similar to the height of Green and Wiggins, and can be infinitely transposed. Taking him to the starting lineup means that in addition to Green, the remaining 4 warriors can shoot three-pointers, which can alleviate the problem of not being able to pull the offensive space to a certain extent.
In the rotation of substitutes, Cole also needs to make adjustments. Candidates such as Bjelica, Lee and Chiosa, who seem to be able to open up space, but are seriously under-capable, must have to cut their playing time. Young players such as Peyton Jr., Cumminga and Moody, who are more athletic and more confrontational, should be reused. It is true that Cuminga and Peyton Jr. also have the problem of projectile instability, but they are substitutes after all, and they are often against the opponent's second team, so it is acceptable to have certain flaws.
Of course, just changing the lineup will certainly not completely solve the problems exposed by the Warriors' 3 games, but at least there is a chance to improve the current situation of the team. And if you want to really solve the problem, you have to wait for Curry to return. And these 3 consecutive defeats, even the players will not even play the ball, should also let Kerr completely understand whether he can be selected as the "15 managers", relying on Curry, or his so-called passing system.