The Golden State Warriors were already struggling before Draymond Green was indefinitely suspended. A change was necessary before it happened, and the change came last night against the Clippers.
Andrew Wiggins was benched for the very first time in his career in place of Brandin Podziemski. The starting lineup consisted of: Steph Curry, Brandin Podziemski, Klay Thompson, Jonathan Kuminga, and Kevon Looney. It was a decision that even Steph Curry understood was necessary.
“I mean changes were necessary and when you are a team that’s struggling to find our identity, and trying to find momentum, you know win basketball games consistently, you have to experiment,” Curry said. “You can’t keep doing the same thing and expect different results.”
While the lineup change may have been questionable to some, the Warriors certainly had great energy throughout the entire night. They kept the game close with the Clippers nearly all game and had a moment to take the lead in the fourth. Unfortunately, Steph Curry was incredibly cold all game, only shooting 3/13 from deep. However, he agreed that the energy was great from the Warriors.
“So, the energy was good tonight, we did some really good things, we started off the game, the first 4 or 5 minutes, with a good understanding of how we need to play and then we started fouling too much,” Curry said. “And the game slowed down, they got easy points, they got back into the game – that changes the tone of it a little bit. But to your point, we just came off the bench trying to figure out how he (Klay Thompson) can be aggressive and assertive. That’s a big change. So, a challenge for him to make those necessary adjustments, to understand without Draymond and the system that we run, how we create good shots defensively, how we show some type of presence and physicality.”
The Warriors have some great young pieces between Brandin Podziemski, Jonathan Kuminga, and Moses Moody. What matters now is how to effectively use these young players in a way that actually translates into wins for the Warriors.