On April 30, Beijing time, the Golden State Warriors advanced to the Western Conference semifinals, and they will face the Memphis Grizzlies. At the same time, the US media changwen analyzed the power of the team's new death five small.
In this series, although Curry has played as a substitute in many games, Poole's opening game has given the Warriors a great boost, and everyone suddenly found that Poole can even assume the responsibility of the team's third giant, at the same time, as the third guard, together with Wiggins and Green, let the Warriors' most powerful rotation lineup be formed, so that the Warriors' new "death five small" is presented in front of everyone's eyes.
In the first four games of the series, Poole averaged 24.3 points per game, shooting 59.6 percent from the field and 51.9 percent from three-point range.
You know, the Warriors' new set of death fives has not been tested for a minute in the regular season, but they have become the Warriors' best fivesome so far.
At that time, at 4:23 in the second quarter of G1 of the series, Poole came on to replace Looney, and Kerr put together a lineup of Poole, Curry, Thompson, Wiggins and Green. As a result, they played a magical game, and in the game, they had a net 14-point victory over the Nuggets in just five minutes, and they were able to turn the three-point deficit into an 11-point lead.
In addition, the Warriors' new small lineup averages 147.8 points per 100 possessions, surpassing any lineup that has played at least 20 minutes in the playoffs this season.
Meanwhile, in the G2 game, the new small-ball line-up played a 22-8 climax in the last six minutes of the first half. Therefore, this year's "Death Five" lineup makes everyone feel that they are dreaming back to 2015.
In the 2015 Finals, the Warriors were 1-2 behind the Cavaliers. In Battle IV, Cole sent the first generation of "Death Five" composed of Curry, Thompson, Green, Iguodala and Barnes to turn the tide in one fell swoop. Therefore, many people think that the Warriors' "death five small" has become Kerr's best idea.
Perhaps many fans will wonder why the Warriors' use of a small lineup against the Nuggets is so effective. In fact, that's because Green was able to defend Jokic successfully, and apart from Green, no player in the league who is less than 6 feet 8 inches tall has played against Jokic more than 36 times this season.
So, because Green is able to put pressure on Jokic on the defensive end, the Warriors can score points recklessly on the offensive end. That way, the Warriors can produce infinitely fluid offensive data, and each person can shoot more than 60 percent, shooting 13 of 24 from three-point range (54 percent) and 23 of 31 shots from within 5 feet (1.5 meters) of the basket.
Curry was extremely good in this lineup, scoring 41 points in 32 minutes. During that time period, the Warriors delivered 24 assists (11 of them from Green) with only six turnovers, 26 points against the Nuggets.
Therefore, no matter who the opponent is, the Warriors' three-guard offensive system should maintain strong firepower. Plus, there's Green on the defensive end, so it's hard to have a team that can stop the Warriors from scoring!