Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr addressed the concerns raised by an Eastern Conference executive, who isn’t entirely sold on their chances as title contender because of their lack of size.
“We’ve been really good starting Draymond [Green] at the five,” Kerr told reporters after the Warriors beat the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday. “I was thrilled to get Quinten Post back tonight because when we can put him out there with Draymond, it just relieves Draymond from that responsibility to guard the other five for 15-16 minutes.”
Post had 10 points and the 7-foot rookie was plus-7 in 15 minutes. Despite another Green poor shooting night — 1-for-6 in 29 minutes — the Warriors’ defensive forward was plus-13 in the win.
“We need to be able to play big too,” Kerr continued. “[Kevon] Looney has been really good this last month, so we’ve got options but our best lineup has been the starters. They’ve put together a really good win-loss record but we’ve got options after that to go bigger.”
Looney is averaging 3.1 points and 4.9 rebounds in 14.3 minutes off the bench in April. He posted 3.7 points and 4.5 rebounds in only 12.1 minutes playing time in March.
Can Warriors Win the West With Draymond Green as Center?
The Eastern Conference executive raised his troubling concerns about Green and the Warriors’ prospect of coming out from a stacked Western Conference in an interview with ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps.
“There’s always time for small ball but their championship teams had positional size,” the Eastern Conference executive told ESPN. “When they won [titles] they had Andrew Bogut, Kevon Looney, Klay [Thompson] and [Kevin] Durant. The ‘death lineup’ with the small ball only played a handful of minutes. I don’t know if this way they’re playing, so small, works. I’ll be impressed if they can run the table this way.
“To ask Draymond at his age to [play more at center] is a lot. I won’t be surprised if they go back to Looney more.”
The 35-year-old Green isn’t a fan of playing center. But he doesn’t have a choice.
“I knew it would come down to this,” Green said of playing center. “But I just didn’t have much interest in doing it for 82 games. Because it’s a lot. To anchor a defense. To play the five, you’re in every action. People downhill at you. It’s a different responsibility on the body. … But if you can’t do it for 29 games, it’s over, champ.”
Warriors’ Playoff Scenario
The 103-86 win over the lottery-bound Trail Blazers, set up Warriors’ season finale against the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday a must-win game.
The Clippers are one of the hottest teams entering Sunday’s season finale, having won their last seven games.
If the Warriors win against the Clippers, they will clinch the sixth seed and face the No. 3 seed Los Angeles Lakers in the first round with a week’s rest. If they lose, the Minnesota Timberwolves can jump over them for the No. 6 seed with a win against the tanking Utah Jazz on Sunday. In that scenario, the Warriors will be relegated to the play-in tournament and face the No. 8 seed Memphis Grizzlies at home on Tuesday.
