It’s the ultimate good problem to have for the Warriors.
Golden State blasted the Denver Nuggets for the second game in a row on Monday, with Stephen Curry coming off the bench as he ramps back from injury. Curry was magnificent, scoring 34 points in just 23 minutes. Jordan Poole and Klay Thompson were also terrific, scoring 29 and 21 points respectively.
At some point the rotation will have to change. Curry will not continue coming off the bench, and won’t need to once he’s no longer on a minutes restriction. Poole is playing at an All-NBA level while starting the last two games, so sending him to the bench also might not be a wise decision.
With those two things in mind, Marc J. Spears of Andscape.com thinks that Thompson might be the odd man out when it comes to one of the three coming off the bench.
“You kind of want to say if it ain’t broke, right?” Spears said. “Don’t blaspheme me for saying this, but I almost kind of prefer if Klay would come off the bench.
“Either way somebody has to sacrifice right? Does it throw him off? I just can’t see Steph Curry coming off the bench for the rest of the playoffs. I just don’t see it, and the way that Jordan’s playing is just special. Some people just seem to thrive off of starting, and he seems to be doing really well, and seems energized by that.”
Of course the other option would be to send Andrew Wiggins or Kevon Looney to the bench, and start the game with Curry, Thompson and Poole, the team’s three best offensive players by a significant margin. Golden State could start the game with Curry, Thompson, Poole, Draymond Green and Kevon Looney against teams with an elite big man so Green doesn’t have to play the five all game. Against smaller teams, they could go with their new kill switch lineup of Curry, Thompson, Poole, Wiggins and Green.
“I’m with Draymond, that’s a tough decision,” Spears concluded. “Maybe the thing to do is keep it the way it is the rest of this series, and then hopefully they knock them out fast and then you have some practice time to make the changes and adjustments.”
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
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