On April 28, Beijing time, the NBA playoffs continued. The Warriors beat the Nuggets 102-98 at home and eliminated their opponents 1-4 in the series, becoming the first team in the West to advance to the semifinals. Jokic scored 30 points, 19 rebounds and 8 assists, Curry contributed 30 points, 5 rebounds and 5 assists, and the Warriors' new five starting lineup achieved good results.
After the last defeat, head coach Kerr chose to put Curry back in the starting lineup, in order to keep Poole, who played well in the series, in the starting lineup, the Warriors boldly put Looney on the bench, using a new five-small lineup of Curry, Poole, Clay, Wiggins and Dream Green. This new five-pack has become the Warriors' strongest five-man group. The media refers to them as "Fast Five", indicating that they are quite fast on the field.
The duo played a total of 39 minutes in this series, making it the combination with the most time to play. Although Poole was plagued by fouls in this game, he received 5 fouls very early, and only played 28 minutes in this game, Kerr chose to replace him with Peyton Jr. at the key moment, but the strength of the new five squads should not be underestimated. It can also be seen that the Warriors are bound to carry out the small ball to the end in the playoffs.
How strong is the Warriors' new five-small lineup? According to official statistics, the Warriors' new five small lineups have an offensive efficiency of 141.2 and a defensive efficiency of 119.8 in 100 rounds, which can net outperform the opponent by 21.4 points. For reference, the Warriors' other five-man lineup, the combination of Clay, Poole, Wiggins, Dream Green and Looney, has also played 39 minutes in this series and the new five. But their offensive efficiency in 100 rounds is only 121.6, defensive efficiency is 109.1, and the net victory over the opponent is 12.5, there is a big gap between the two, and the strength of the new five can be added.
In addition, the new five squads showed efficient performance on the offensive end when they were on the floor. They scored a total of 120 points, 30 more points than the second-place combination in the team at the same time. They shot 61.2 percent from the field and 51.7 percent from three-point range, and the fivesomes who played more than 20 minutes in the league were at the top of the list, shooting 85.2 percent from the free throw line and plus-minus 23 percent.
For the Warriors, they are back in the playoffs after three years, and the goal is naturally to win the championship. Because the Nuggets lack the two main players of Murray and Porter Jr., they cannot pose a great threat to the Warriors, their problems are still ahead, and whether it is against the Grizzlies or timberwolves in the semifinals, it will be a bad battle that will be difficult to avoid. Whether the new five can continue the efficient offensive performance, let's wait and see.
(Text/Yuwen Basketball)