Despite the small-ball surprise the Golden State Warriors sprung on the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, big man Andrew Bogut remains critical to keeping the Dubs on top.
Yes, it's true the Warriors effectively erased Bogut from their rotation, playing him a grand total of three minutes in their Finals-clinching streak of wins in Games 4, 5 and 6 back in June. Shrinking the lineup, picking up the pace and relying on Draymond Green to man the center spot paid off in a big way; the Warriors crushed Cleveland in Game 4 and never looked back.
Take those three games as evidence of Bogut's expendability if you like, but just know you'll also be ignoring the other 87 contests he played during the regular season and playoffs.
Assistant coach Ron Adams told Angus Crawford of NBA Australia: "If people are shortsighted, they could minimize what [Bogut] did. But the reason we won this year is that we're a real team, and everyone supports—as he did during that stretch run and when we made the change—and that's the significant thing."
The Warriors are an unsolvable problem with Green, who's smaller tha ...
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Article written by Grant Hughes
Andrew Bogut’s Value to Golden State Warriors Has Never Been Higher
August 5th, 2015 by Grant Hughes Leave a reply »
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