OAKLAND – Down two games to one and having lost the home-court advantage in their first-playoff series against the Clippers, the Warriors are pondering changes in the starting lineup.
The top candidates to move to the bench are big men Jermaine O'Neal and David Lee – and not necessarily in that order – because Los Angeles power forward Blake Griffin is wearing out the Warriors.
"I could make a change," Warriors coach Mark Jackson said prior to the team's practice Friday. "I won't say whether I will or with who, but it's possible. We've got to figure out a way to present some resistance. Things are going a little too smoothly right now for Blake."
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Griffin has scored 83 points in 93 minutes against a variety of defenders. Lee has been the first option, followed by either Draymond Green or O'Neal. Marreese Speights has had his chances. Small forward Andre Iguodala has been forced into the job a couple times, as has third-string center Hilton Armstrong.
So far, though, no one has been able to thwart Griffin.
Since Game 1, when Griffin got into early foul trouble and played only 19 minutes, scoring 16 points on 6-of-13 shooting, he is shooting 66.7 percent (28 of 42) and is the primary reason the Clippers bounced back to win Games 2 and 3.
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Jackson acknowledged the possibility of turning to some of his reserve big men to utilize the Hack-a-Blake defense, saying he's given that tactic "some serious thought," to making Griffin earn his points at the foul line.
"There's some thought to it," Jackson said. "We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out and look forward to Sunday, but there's some serious thought to it."
Griffin is a poor free throw shooter. Though he made 13 of 14 from the line at Staples Center, he was 2 of 9 amid the noise in Game 3 at Oracle.
