Last June, facing a 2-1 series deficit against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors did the unthinkable, even by today's standards: They unleashed their aptly named small-ball "Death Squad."
That lineup, an arrangement consisting of Harrison Barnes, Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala and Klay Thompson, didn't start a single game during the regular season. But it was the team's fifth-most used combination overall, and special assistant to the head coach Nick U'Ren convinced his boss, Steve Kerr, to sit starting center Andrew Bogut in favor of the 6'6" Iguodala.
The rest, as they say, is history. The Death Squad saw more than triple the minutes of any other in-house lineup, and the Warriors ran off three consecutive victories to earn their first title in 40 years.
That same team is now after a different piece of history, facing yet another uphill battle. The Warriors are three wins away from breaking the 1995-96 Chicago Bulls' record of 72 victories, with just three games left to play.
Win out, and that record is theirs. The mission is this simple. Th ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Dan Favale
With History on the Line, Is It Time for Warriors to Unleash the ‘Death Squad’?
April 8th, 2016 by Dan Favale Leave a reply »
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