After Game 5 loss, the Warriors are searching for answers

With less than a minute and a half left, James Harden squared up Steph Curry, crossed over, drove to his left and, just as he entered the teeth of Golden State’s defense, kicked out to an open Eric Gordon above the break. Gordon drilled the 3-pointer and Klay Thompson, after a late closeout, threw his hands up in frustration.

That was the dagger.

And this Warriors team that had seemingly solved basketball is now down 3-2 to the Rockets in the Western Conference Finals, and searching for answers.

After Gordon hit this key shot, Steve Kerr took a timeout and subbed Quinn Cook for Shaun Livingston with 1:21 left in the game. He’d make three more subs — rotating between Cook and Kevon Looney — in the final 80 seconds. Houston wouldn’t have made any if Chris Paul hadn’t gotten hurt in the final seconds (save for maybe a quick sub for rebounding free throws). The Warriors are top heavy, and Andre Iguodala may have been the Jenga piece that kept the team from teetering.

Without Iguodala, who’s missed the last two games of the series with a left leg contusion, Kerr has struggled to find a trustworthy fifth man next to his four All Stars. Iguodala held the Hamptons Five together. He provided enough size to switch on defense and enough ball handling and savvy to contribute on offense. Looney, who has started in his place, is a zero on offense, and Cook doesn’t provide enough size on defense. Iggy was a happy middle.

Golden State’s lineup of Curry, Thompson, Iguodala, Kevin Durant and Draymond Green has outscored opponents in the postseason by nearly 23 points per 100 possessions — by far the best clip of any lineup that has logged at least 90 minutes in these playoffs. Put Looney in Iguodala’s place and that net rating drops to 15.7 — still good, but not as deadly — and those minutes mostly come at the start of each half, not the end. Livingston has only played six minutes in Iguodala’s place. What makes the Lineup of Death and its second interpretation so dangerous is that it’s the knockout punch. However, it needs all five guys to work. The Warriors in the last two games haven’t had their finishing move available.

It shouldn’t come as a shock, then, that the Rockets out-executed the Warriors in crunch time in the last two games. Houston has largely controlled the look and feel of this series. They’re in their comfort zone whereas Golden State can’t settle. In Game 5, Curry and Durant looked like Harden and Paul, trading possessions to attack the Rockets defense one on one. The Warriors can still beat a lot of teams that way, but the Rockets are perhaps the only team that plays that game better.

When asked if the offense sacrifices anything when they post up Durant, Kerr said “No. It’s a good option to throw the ball to Kevin Durant in the post. It’s a really good option.”

True. Only, it’s not the best option. The Warriors are great almost by default. When they move the ball, they’re unbeatable. Golden State led the league during the regular season with 29.3 assists per game. They had only 18 in Game 5 and 14 in Game 4.

Credit Houston’s defense. Their length and aggression has caused a lot of turnovers and may have spooked Golden States’ passers from passing. Still, Durant is tall enough to stand like Peyton Manning in the pocket and deliver a pass to his target. There’s no reason why he should’ve had zero assists in Game 5.

Kerr after the game was optimistic, and said they needed to settle down and play wiser. That, however, is seemingly exactly what Iguodala brought to the table. Curry the swag. Green the bravado. Iguodala the wisdom.

“We’re right there,” Kerr said after the game. “We found some things tonight that worked for us.”

Next: Chris Paul suffers injury in the final moments of Game 5

The Warriors tried a lot of different things in Game 5 and, after all that searching, Kerr better hope so. If not, they’ll be searching for the remote between couch cushions to watch the NBA Finals from home.

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