The big, often forgotten reason the Warriors are still title contenders without Kevin Durant
OAKLAND, Calif. — No one knows when Kevin Durant is going to return to the Warriors lineup.
The 2014 NBA MVP and seismic free-agent signing sprained the MCL in his left knee in the Warriors’ Feb. 28 game agains the Wizards, and while there is optimism around Oakland that he will come back before the end of the regular season, there’s no firm timetable for his return and there are significant concerns as to Durant’s abilities once he does return to the lineup.
While it’s foolhardy to predict what “percentage” Durant will be once he returns — 50, 85, 92.8? Who knows?— if the Warriors do get Durant back before the postseason starts, it’s fair to assume that he might not be able to provide the full impact the Warriors have come to expect this season.
Can the Warriors compete for a title without Durant at his best?
We’re going to find out this week.
Golden State faces a hellacious stretch of games over the next seven days, starting with a Texas back-to-back in Houston (No. 3 in the Western Conference) and San Antonio (No. 2) where none of the three teams are expected to rest players. That’s followed by another matchup with the Rockets — this time in the East Bay — and then a Sunday showdown with the always dangerous Wizards.
Durant isn’t going to be back for those games, and even if he was ready to return, it’s unlikely that the Warriors would want to reintegrate him against three of the best teams in the NBA — they’re planning on easing him back into form when the time comes for him to return to the court.
The next four games are measuring sticks for a Golden State team that struggled in the immediate aftermath of Durant’s injury but is now in a groove, having won their last seven games.
There are several reasons for the Warriors’ current strong form.
Draymond Green pointed out Sunday that adapting to new rotations and figuring out how to score without one of the best scorers in NBA history on the court wasn’t easy — it took a while.
The NBA schedule makers certainly helped a bit as well — nothing resets like a home game against the Orlando Magic.
But perhaps more than either of those reasons has been the surging play of Andre Iguodala.
The 33-year-old forward is fond of telling his teammates “Y’all forget that I can play basketball, too," but to be fair to them, it was somewhat easy to forget about 'Dre this season — he was averaging seven points per game, and while he was still a strong defender, it was clear that he had lost at least some percentage of a step. (We won’t get into parsing that number, either.)
But since Durant hit the bench, Iguodala has gone back to “Philly Andre” — a more willing shooter with plenty of bounce on both ends of the court.
And he’s been spectacular during Golden State’s seven-game win streak.
https://streamable.com/nc6t9
Playing in six of those contests, Iguodala has posted an offensive rating of 122.2, a defensive rating of 94.4 — absurd numbers — and Sunday’s grind-it-out win over the Marc Gasol-less Grizzlies might have been Iguodala’s best game of the year: He looked 10 years younger, throwing down a number of highlight reel dunks en route to a 20-point game.
Golden State is undefeated over the last four years (playoffs included) when the 2015 NBA Finals MVP scores 20 points in a game.
There hasn’t been a magic switch that Warriors coach Steve Kerr flipped to bring out his sixth man’s best play — when asked what he’s told Iguodala over the last few games, Kerr was blunt: “Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it.”
“Andre’s been our best player here the last few weeks,” Kerr continued. “He’s been fantastic. He looks incredibly athletic, bouncy, and fresh. He’s a pro. This guy just knows how to take care of his body. I think he’s done a great job in stepping up in KD’s absence and recognizing what we need from him — he’s brilliant.”
https://streamable.com/grkdm
It might surprise you that the Warriors have been the NBA’s best defensive team since Durant has gone to the bench, posting a defensive rating of 99, with a league-leading net rating of 9.5 (the next-best team, the Rockets, are nearly a point below them).
"We're playing at a really intense level defensively," Iguodala said. "It ends up showing [with] W's."
That's a critical point: While offense might win in the regular season, the playoffs are all about getting stops, and when it comes to that, this Golden State squad, as currently constructed, is a really, really good team, and so much of that has to do with Iguodala finding his best game at the right time.
We all know that when Durant comes back the Warriors will again be the prohibitive favorites in the Western Conference, but if this Iguodala-led squad can come out of this tough four-game stretch with a winning record, you have to a consider a Durant-less Warriors squad not only title contenders, but perhaps even the favorites.