The Warriors’ so-called Death Lineup is not dead.
The lineup that so destroys opponents at both ends of the floor is being given new life. The upgrade provides reason to believe it’ll be even more devastating.
Versatile forward Harrison Barnes has been replaced by Kevin Durant, who is considerably more effective yet no less versatile.
Durant will join Draymond Green, Andre Iguodala, Klay Thompson and Stephen Curry to form Death Lineup II, which Warriors coach Steve Kerr is eager to deploy.
“We’ll play Draymond at the five and Kevin at the four,” Kerr told CSNBayArea.com. “And we think that can be a great defensive lineup.
“But that’s not a lineup you play for 48 minutes. That’s a short-burst lineup. It’s probably our closing lineup.”
Curry, Thompson, Durant and Green expect to be joined in the starting lineup by Zaza Pachulia, who replaces Andrew Bogut at center. Bogut, however, ranked sixth on the team in minutes played in the regular season and dropped to seventh in the playoffs.
The Curry-Thompson-Iguodala-Barnes-Green lineup outscored teams by an absurd 47 per 100 possessions. This lineup, almost without fail, killed. It was so dominating that folks clamored to see it for more than 15-20 minutes per game.
Kerr consistently shot holes through that idea.
“Our closing lineup, both at the end of the first half and at the end of games, was generally with Harrison at the four,” Kerr said. “Now we’re just putting KD in that spot. That probably won’t change. But we only played those guys together maybe 15 minutes a game.”
Tempting as it may be, adding Durant won’t change Kerr’s mind about stretching the minutes of the Death Lineup – particularly in regards to Iguodala, whose knees require ongoing maintenance. His minutes will be monitored. He will miss games.
Whenever the Curry-Thompson-Iguodala-Durant-Green lineup is on the floor, though, it ought to be the best unit in the NBA. Curry, Thompson and Durant are elite shooters. Thompson, Iguodala and Green are elite defenders, with Durant on the edge of elite. Durant is the best rebounding small forward in the NBA, and Green led the Warriors in that category. Thompson is the only one of the five yet to average at leave five assists in a season.
Ball movement and flow, the staples of Kerr’s offense, is virtually guaranteed. Opponents have two months to prepare.
