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For a long time, the Golden State Warriors have the NBA's ace in the hole: the series of death. Initially deployed at the suggestion of assistant coach Nick U'Ren in the finals of the 2015 NBA, the formation quickly became the most dangerous of the league. And it got even more scary when the Warriors traded the weakest member of the first iteration of Death Lineup – Harrison Barnes – against Kevin Durant before the 2016-17 season.
Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala and Draymond Green played 529 minutes in the regular season, scoring 268 points – and 20.5 points for 100 possessions. Prior to their loss to the Houston Rockets in the fourth game (night), the group split 317 minutes in the playoffs, outperforming their opponents by 121 points in total and 16.7 points for 100 possessions.
However, in this year's playoffs, the most feared NBA formation has begun to show signs of vulnerability – and the Houston Rockets have benefited. In Game 4, Houston outscored this 11-point unit in 22 minutes. This figure includes the 14-8 race with which the Warriors closed the match at 17:45. Such a performance for Death Lineup is – to say the least – extremely unusual.
This unit has now seen the floor together in 32 of the 48 playoff games that encompass the Durant era, and has only been missed in seven of those 32 games. When the formation shared the floor for at least five minutes, it was exceeded only four times out of 23. And when this group played more than 10 minutes together, it was only twice over in 13 minutes. games.
Take a look at the list of seven playoff games in which Death Lineup has been outclassed, and see if you notice anything.
The line of death kills the wrong team
Since the acquisition of Kevin Durant, the playoff games in which Golden State's "Death Lineup" has been outperformed, 2017-2019
| Thu | Opponent | Minutes | +/- | To win |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 conf. final match 2 | rockets | 22 | -18 | |
| 2019 2nd round 4th match | rockets | 22 | -11 | |
| 2019 round 1 match 5 | Mowers | 9 | -8 | |
| 2017 Round 2, match 4 | Jazz | 2 | -8 | ✓ |
| 2017 Round 1 Match 1 | Trail Blazers | 6 | -7 | ✓ |
| 2019 round 1 match 3 | Mowers | 2 | -5 | ✓ |
| 2019 round 1 match 2 | Mowers | 4 | -4 |
First, and of course, the two worst games in this group were opposed to the Rockets. Last year they were hit by 18 points in the second game of the Western Conference finals, and on Monday night they were beaten by 11. But you may also notice that of the seven games, four of them are part of this year's playoffs, which have so far only 10 games.
Part of this can be a product of Steve Kerr and Warriors relying too much on Death Lineup. Prior to this series, the Death Lineup had never been used more than 22 minutes in a playoff game. He has now played 22 or more in all four games against the Rockets, including a 34 playoff record in Game 3, and the Warriors have still managed to lose two of those four games. Those defeats dropped from their playoff record when the group shared the floor for more than 20 minutes to just 2-3, with all of those games coming up against the Rockets.
That the Warriors had to use their better alignment more often than others against Houston is perhaps not surprising. The Rockets were pretty open last season for building their team specifically to defeat the Warriors. General Manager Daryl Morey said his organization was "obsessed with:" How can we beat the Warriors? ""
After taking a 3-2 lead, Chris Paul is injured in the last moments of the fifth game. They almost managed to qualify at the Western Conference Finals of the Western Conference last year. Trevor Ariza on foot for an agreement with the Phoenix Suns. Critics were even noisier when Houston started the season badly, but they are again able to send the Warriors home sooner. The Rockets do not have the advantage of playing at home, but they may have another advantage: their bench.
Austin Rivers and Iman Shumpert pickups in the Houston season added to the depth of their wings, and this duo provided good minutes in this series. Rivers missed the first game due to illness, but the Rockets have scored more than 17 goals in 85 minutes over the past three games. Likewise, they are over-15 in 65 minutes with Shumpert on the floor during the series. Nene was used only sparingly as the Rockets slumped into small ball alignments with P. J. Tucker in the middle when Clint Capela rests, but Houston is still over-18 with Nene in the match.
The bench of warriors, meanwhile, was a disaster. The five players who left the bench for at least 10 minutes during these four games saw the Warriors beat for their goal. Coach Steve Kerr apparently does not trust any of them, including previously reliable players like Shaun Livingston.
Playoffs in which Golden State used the bench for 50 minutes or less, 2017-2019
| Thu | OPPONENT | Bench Min. |
|---|---|---|
| 2019: round 2, match 3 | rockets | 39 |
| 2019: round 2, match 1 | rockets | 44 |
| 2019: round 2, match 4 | rockets | 47 |
| 2018: conference finale, game 4 | rockets | 48 |
| 2019: round 2, match 2 | rockets | 50 |
Kerr only allowed 47 minutes combined to his bench players in the fourth game, the third minute that he has ever given them in 48 playoff games since Durant's team signing. Only five times, he allowed 50 minutes or less to the bench, and four of them came in this series, which has only four games.
Kerr is hoping things will turn out differently when the series returns to Oracle Arena for the fifth game. Maybe it's Curry coming out of his long shoot. s' collapse even more than Monday night or that Klay Thompson has finally exploded for the first time in what seems like an eternity. Maybe it's a question of finding a way to force James Harden to a mediocre performance. It may be something else. But something must change for them, otherwise they will go home for the summer unexpectedly early.
Discover our latest NBA forecast.
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